Law & Order: SVU: Haunted
by Mcfergeson
Summary: While on extradition duty in Pennsylvania, Olivia Benson has an unearthly encounter with the supernatural, as she becomes the target of a vicious, shadowy killer. Can Olivia unravel the bizare mystery at the core of this case before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is not a crossover story in the sense that Liv is teaming up with anybody. However, it's a blending of two genres: the crime story that SVU is famous for, and a ghost story. So, maybe, this really is a crossover: sort of like Olivia Benson meets Stephen King. _

_Olivia is in a lesbian relationship with Alex Cabot, and Elliot Stabler is in a 'ship with Casey Novak--making this an unofficial sequel to Inheritance, of sorts. I hope you enjoy it. Try not to read it just before you go to bed..... _

**Law & Order: SVU: Haunted**

**Chapter One**

Olivia ran down a long, dark hallway. Out of breath, she paused to glance fearfully over her shoulder at whoever had been chasing her. Yet all she saw behind her was darkness. It was the kind of pitch-black darkness that could hide anyone, or anything.

'There's somebody out there,' Olivia realized, as she stared hard into the blackness. 'I can sense them watching me.'

She instinctively reached for the gun in her hip holster, only to find that it wasn't there, nor was her badge. Although she was dressed in jeans with a gray t-shirt, Olivia still felt naked, vulnerable. There was something dreadfully wrong with this situation; something was very off-kilter here.

She was startled when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her from within the darkness. As hard as she tried to keep her fear in control, it was nearly impossible at this point. And so Olivia gave in to her gut reaction and ran away from the sounds of the footsteps.

Once she began to sprint, the footsteps also broke into a mad dash behind her. Her pursuer now ran after her full bore. 'This is ridiculous,' Olivia thought as she ran. She knew that by giving in to her panic, she allowed whoever was chasing her to gain the upper hand. 'I've got to regain control of this somehow.'

A doorway appeared off to her left, and Olivia ducked into it. She pressed herself up against the wall, and braced herself to attack her pursuer the moment he entered the room.

But he never entered.

Olivia stared into the black void that lay beyond the door. Not only was she unable to see anybody, but also she no longer heard the footsteps. Her unknown pursuer had vanished within the darkness. When Olivia became aware of a glowing light from behind her, she glanced over her shoulder and gasped in shock at the sight before her.

A young blond woman stood a few feet away from her. She was dressed in a similar outfit that Olivia wore: jeans with a gray t-shirt and bare feet, and she stood wither hands up. The woman, who couldn't have been any older than late teens, early twenties at the most, looked extremely agitated as she waved her hands and stared at Olivia in horror. Although she stood only a few feet away, Olivia couldn't hear a word that came out of her mouth.

"Sweetie, what is it?" Olivia said, as she ran towards the woman. "What's the mat—?"

Olivia was caught off guard when she ran into an invisible barrier that was right in front of the woman. She desperately pounded her fists against it, but it was as impenetrable as a brick wall.

"What the hell?" Olivia cried in frustration. She was baffled as to where this barrier came from. She gazed fearfully at the woman, who pressed her hand up on her side of the invisible barrier like a prisoner greeting a visitor at the jail. Olivia, who wanted nothing more than to try and help the poor woman in any way she could, settled for placing her hand up against the invisible barrier as well. "What's going on here? Can you hear me?"

The young blond woman leaned in close, and although Olivia still couldn't hear her, she could read her lips when she said, "Be careful."

"Be careful?" Olivia repeated. When the woman solemnly nodded, Olivia asked, "Be careful of what?"

The woman's eyes grew wide with horror as she stared at something over Olivia's shoulder. She let out a hysterical cry—which was completely silent—as she pointed wildly at something behind Olivia.

Olivia turned around just in time to see a shadowy shape lunge right at her. A hand grabbed her throat in a vise-like grip and hauled her up against the barrier.

Olivia started to choke helplessly as the hand tightened its grip on her throat, squeezing the life out of her as—

—Elliot grabbed her arms. "Liv, Liv! Wake up!"

Olivia was awake; she instantly realized that everything that had occurred was just a dream.

"You were having a hell of a nightmare," Elliot told her. "You ok?"

Olivia glanced around and saw that Elliot had pulled over to the side of the road. She suddenly felt very claustrophobic in the car. "Excuse me," she whispered. "I need to get out for a minute."

She removed her seat belt and opened the door. As she got out of the car she saw they were parked alongside route 80, in a rural area with rolling hills. It was chilly and damp, with most of the trees having changed to a reddish gold color; the skies were overcast with a solid sheet of iron gray. As she stared at this late October landscape, Olivia found it hard to shake the sense of dread from her dream. She felt as if she had wakened from one nightmare and stepped into another.

When Elliot slowly walked up and stood alongside of her, she asked, "Where are we?"

"Pennsylvania," Elliot replied. "We're on extradition duty, remember?"

Olivia nodded as the details came flooding back to her. The local police in Whitehope Pennsylvania, a small town nestled within the Pocono Mountain region, had captured Henry Lee Roberson, who was wanted for the vicious murders of several young women in New York City. Roberson had sexually assaulted his victims before killing them. Captain Cragen had sent them out to Pennsylvania to retrieve Roberson and bring him back to the city to finally face the music.

"You didn't answer my question, Liv," Elliot said with concern. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, um, sorry," Olivia replied sheepishly. "My crazed antics made you pull over."

"Forget it," Elliot said with a shake of his head. "I needed to stretch my legs, anyway--been driving for about two hours, now."

"Are we almost there?"

"About another twelve miles, give or take."

Olivia glanced at her watch and saw it was a quarter past eleven. They made good time, especially coming straight out of the city when they did. Although Olivia still felt that ominous feeling of dread, she pushed it to the back of her mind. 'You got a job to do,' she told herself. 'Don't let some silly dream get in the way of everything.'

She smiled at the sight of Elliot surveying the rolling countryside with a wistful look on his face. "You planning on where to build the future house, El?" she asked with a smile.

Elliot broke into a shy grin at that. "Hey, I'm gonna have to retire someday. Might as well be out here, right? I don't know, maybe Casey and me could be working a farm."

The image of Elliot in overalls and a straw hat made Olivia burst into laughter. She laughed even harder when she imagined him singing the theme song to Green Acres.

"What?" Elliot asked in mock defensiveness. "What's so funny about that idea?"

Olivia shook her head as they walked back to the car. Casey Novak was the Special Victim's Unit's Assistant District Attorney whom Elliot had been with for the past few years now. "For one thing, you'll never drag Casey out of the city, Elliot. She's a New York City girl through and through."

"Now there's where you're wrong. Just last weekend Case and I drove out of the city to view the autumn foliage upstate."

"Oh right, she'll make trips outside the city, but to actually MOVE outside of the city? Nuh-uh! Not our Casey. Besides, just the thought of you, a Queens boy, milking cows?" She burst into giggles once more. "Sorry, but I really don't see it happening, El."

Elliot shrugged as they got back in the car. "Maybe we'd be better off retiring to the tropics, instead."

"If you do that, make sure you have a guest house," Olivia said. "Because Alex and I will be coming with you."

When she wearily rubbed her eyes, Elliot sat back in the driver's seat and said, "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Olivia insisted. "Really."

Yet Elliot didn't appear convinced. "That must have been one mother of a dream, because you look really rattled."

The truth of the matter was Olivia was still very rattled. She normally didn't let nightmares get to her, but this one still haunted her. The moment in her dream when she was being strangled had felt so horribly real that Olivia was extremely grateful when she woke up.

Then Olivia became unsettled when she recalled how Henry Lee Roberson killed his victims after he raped them: he strangled them with his bare hands. When that unknown woman warned her in the dream to be careful, was she referring to Roberson?

'Oh, that's ridiculous,' Olivia realized. 'That woman wasn't really warning me, anymore than I was really being strangled. It was just a frigging dream, nothing more. I read up on Roberson's past crimes on the drive out here, and when I fell asleep my subconscious simply used his method of killing people in my dream.'

She gave her partner a slight smile. "I guess I haven't been getting enough of sleep lately. That's all."

Elliot nodded in understanding. "I hear that. With our caseload, nobody in the SVU gets a decent night's sleep these days. You want to stop off for a bite to eat?"

"Not unless you want to get something."

"Nah, I'm fine," Elliot said.

"Then let's get this frigging scumbag," Olivia told him. "Maybe we can beat the traffic back to the city."

"Sounds like a plan," Elliot said, as he started up the car.

The rest of the drive was very scenic, with the mountain ranges in the distance showing a spectacular display of fall colors. When they pulled off 80 and into the deep woods on the way to Whitehope, Olivia was reminded of an autumn drive she took with Alex one time. Olivia had wanted to see the fall colors, and although Alex wasn't too keen on the idea—she had claimed to be buried under paperwork at the D.A.'s office—she finally relented and came along. While Olivia had been stunned at the colors, as she was now, Alex had shaken her head and said, "You dragged me a hundred miles from the city just to look at dying leaves?"

As she stared out the window, admiring the quaint little streets of Whitehope, Olivia broke into a grin at that memory. She hoped that she could convince Alex to take another trip to the country, because the Fall colors were gorgeous. They arrived at Whitehope Police headquarters, which was set back about a hundred feet from Main Street. It was a large building with a vast parking lot for visitors, and today many of those visitors were troopers from the Pennsylvania State Police.

"Uh-oh," Elliot said, as they pulled into the parking lot. "Something's up."

"Maybe the PSP are here for another reason," Olivia said hopefully.

"Let's hope so," Elliot said grimly. "But something might have gone wrong. Roberson's a serial killer—and that's something that these hick cops don't have much experience with, which is why they might have called in the PSP for help."

When they entered the police station, it was a beehive of activity, with State Police Troopers and Whitehope police officers all running around and either yelling at each other, or making phone calls. At the main reception desk was a young Whitehope officer who greeted them with a harried look. She appeared to be in her early twenties—barely twenty-five at the most—with flaming red hair that was pulled back into a bun behind her head and a splash of freckles across her face. She had the clearest blue eyes Olivia had ever seen on a person. 'This kid looks like she should be out working a farm,' Olivia thought, 'instead of being stuck behind a desk in a police station.'

The young police officer glanced up at them with a pleasant smile and said,

"May I help you?"

"Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson, NYPD," Elliot told her, as they flashed their badges. "We're here for the extradition of Henry Lee Roberson."

The young woman's smile faded into a horrified look, and Olivia's stomach clenched up when she realized that the three-ring circus being performed in the stationhouse indeed had something to do with Roberson.

"Um, yes, let me get the chief for you," the young officer said as she fled the reception desk and ran towards the private office of the chief of police.

Elliot shot Olivia a wary look, and she knew exactly what he meant. This wasn't looking very good for them.

"Hey," a man called. "Hey, you two!"

Olivia turned to see a grungy old bearded man with a hangdog look seated on a bench by the wall. His left wrist was handcuffed to the arm of the bench. He looked as if he never met a bottle of booze that he didn't like. "You guys are from New York City, right?"

"Yeah," Elliot replied with a frown. "What's it to you?"

"Can ya take me back with ya?" the man asked hopefully. Every other word out of his mouth was slurred. "I could really use a change of scenery. Whitehope just doesn't fit the bill for me anymore, ya know what I'm saying?"

Olivia and Elliot briefly exchanged an exasperated expression. The drunk certainly didn't look like their man. Still, just to be sure, she asked, "Is your name Henry Lee Roberson?"

"No, it's Roy Dunhill," he replied amiably. He flashed a grin, showing several large gaps in his teeth.

"Then we're not taking you back with us," Olivia flatly said.

Roy looked momentarily depressed at that. Then he shrugged and said, "Oh well. Can't blame a guy for trying, eh?'"

When they turned away from the drunk, Olivia saw the chief of police walking towards them. The young red-haired officer followed close on his heels. The chief was a roly-poly man in his fifties with glasses and thinning gray hair. "Detectives Benson and Stabler?"

"Benson," Olivia said, pointing at herself. She gestured at Elliot and added, "Stabler."

"I'm Chief Carl Anderson," he replied with an annoyed look. Taking a deep breath, he added, "Less than forty five minutes ago, Henry Lee Roberson escaped from this facility. He's presently at large, his whereabouts unknown."

Olivia was so stunned she involuntarily flinched. She glanced at Elliot and saw he was just as shocked.

At the very least, Olivia had expected Roberson to be snatched out of their hands by the PSP because of newly discovered crimes he committed here in Pennsylvania; at the worst, she expected Roberson to have been wounded or killed during an escape attempt. But the mere thought of this monster, who brutally raped and strangled women, now stalking the formerly peaceful mountainous countryside of Whitehope was repugnant to Olivia. And yet it was now a fact: Roberson was free.

She thought back to that strange young woman's frightened face in the dream, as she silently pleaded for Olivia to be careful—just before Olivia was strangled by an unseen manic who leapt out of the shadows.

'Looks like that dream might have been a warning after all,' Olivia thought, as she felt an icy chill slide up her spine.

**To Be Continued.....**


	2. Chapter 2

_My thanks to _Miscreation _and_ Ray _for their reviews._

_Of course, it goes without saying that I do not own the SVU characters, and nor am I making any money off of this story.  
_

**Law & Order: SVU: Haunted**

**Chapter Two**

"This was where he was," Sergeant Earl Langford said. He pointed out the jail cell where Roberson was being held to Olivia and Elliot. Langford was a big bear of a man with rugged looks and a bushy black mustache. As opposed to the chief of police, who appeared to be a desk jockey who rarely left his office, Olivia could easily imagine Langford out hunting or fishing in the deep woods that surrounded Whitehope.

"The door was opened when you found it?" Olivia asked.

"Yes," Langford replied. "The jail cell door was wide open, and the door in back was also left open."

Elliot bent down and examined the lock on the jail cell. "This doesn't look forced open in any way."

"We're thinking he may have used a key," Langford said grimly. "Although how did he get that key…that's another story. The officer who was the jailer at the time is being questioned by the State Police right now. I'd hate to think that this was an inside job, but we're covering all the bases, just to be sure."

"Where does that back door lead to?" Elliot asked.

"The parking lot," Langford answered. "It's set up that way for easy transfer of prisoners to a vehicle outside."

"You mind if we take a look outside?" Olivia asked.

"Not at all," Langford said. "I welcome your input."

They followed him down the hallway to the back door. When he opened it, Olivia saw that it had started raining quite heavily outside. It had also gotten very cold—which actually was good for the manhunt, because the rotten weather would help slow Roberson down.

"The State Police and our boys have done a thorough canvass of the neighborhood surrounding the police station," Langford said. "So far, nothing. It looks like Roberson might have headed into the woods."

The young red-haired policewoman from the reception desk entered the hallway. "Sarge? The boys are back."

"Oh yeah," Langford muttered, almost to himself. "Excuse me, detectives." Turning to the young patrolwoman on his way out, he added, "Why don't you see if the detectives need anything, Ally?"

"May I get you something?" she asked, as they all walked out to the reception area. "Coffee?"

"Actually, I really need to give our boss, Captain Cragen, a call," Elliot said, as he dug out his cell phone. "Give him an update on this situation."

Elliot left the women alone by the coffee maker while he went to pace back and forth by the window as he spoke into his cell. Just a few feet away, locked in his glass-walled office, Chief Anderson consulted with a PSP detective over a map of the area. Meanwhile a group of Whitehope police and State Troopers entered the station. They reported to Langford, who now manned the reception desk.

Olivia smiled slightly as she glanced at the young patrolwoman beside her, who stared at all of this with an expression of awe on her face.

'This sort of mayhem happens everyday in the SVU squad room,' Olivia thought. 'But for this kid, it must seem like the end of the world. God, was I ever that young?'

"Oh, excuse me, Detective Benson," the young patrolwoman abruptly said. "I guess I got caught up in the excitement. You still want that coffee?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks." She held out her hand. "And call me Olivia."

"Allison," she said, shaking Olivia's hand. "Allison Pullman."

"Been on The Job long, Allison?"

"I graduated from the Allentown City Police Academy almost a year ago," she replied with an awkward smile. "I guess it shows, huh?"

"You're no more green than I was when I was just barely a year out of the NYPD academy," Olivia told her. "It takes time to gain experience. Just keep at it."

"NYPD," Allison said, with a faraway look in her eyes. "That sounds so exciting. It must be great to be in a place where you're able to really make a difference, huh?"

"Being NYPD has its moments," Olivia admitted. "But it doesn't matter where you live, you can make a difference anywhere you are, Allison."

"Yeah, well, we're not exactly making a difference today, are we?" Allison said despondently. "I'm afraid you're not seeing us at our best, Olivia."

Olivia whispered, "Don't think for a minute that the NYPD doesn't have its share of bad days, too. What happened today is no reflection on any of you guys as police officers."

"Thanks, Olivia," Allison said with a smile. "I appreciate it."

Elliot came over as he ended the call on his cell. "I gave Cragen the news. He wants us to stick around, see if we can lend a hand with the manhunt, or provide whatever assistance we can."

"There's really not much we can do until—" Olivia started to say, when she was interrupted by Anderson, who ran out of his office with the PSP detective.

"We have a report of a break-in in a house over on Washburn," Anderson announced to the room. "This may be Roberson. I want every officer who's not busy to ride out with us right now."

"I'm Lieutenant Kendall, PSP," the PSP detective told Olivia and Elliot. After Elliot introduced himself and Olivia, Kendall added, "You're both more than welcome to come along, if you wish."

"We appreciate that," Elliot said. "Thanks."

Every police officer in the room instantly spurred into action, including Allison, who grabbed her Smoky-The-Bear-style hat and jacket from the racks. She had just finished zipping up her jacket and was about to walk out the door alongside her male comrades when Anderson said, "Allison, no! I want you back manning the reception desk."

'Oh, Christ!' Olivia thought, as she gazed in sorrow at Allison, who looked crestfallen. 'Poor kid!'

"Uh, Chief, it's my tour on the desk anyway," Sergeant Langford said. "Ally still can go—"

"I want you out there with the rest of the _real_ police, Earl, and I want Ally at the reception desk, where she belongs," Anderson ordered, his face pinched up with disgust. "Gene and Bill are alone at the crime scene right now, so there's no time to argue. Let's move it, people!"

Allison forlornly removed her hat and jacket as she stepped back behind the reception desk. Her eyes were cast downward in shame the entire time.

As he put on his jacket, Langford gently grasped her shoulder and said, "There's nobody whom I'd trust more to hold the fort than you, Ally."

Allison smiled at him, touched by his sincere comment. Yet Olivia noted that once she was left alone, Allison appeared to be blinking back tears as she stoically sorted through the paperwork on the desk. She was completely and utterly crushed by Anderson's callous treatment of her.

As the police filed out of the building, Elliot came up to Olivia and nudged her arm. "We should get going, Liv."

"You see what that rat-bastard Anderson just did to her?" Olivia snarled.

"Liv, I don't know my way around this burg, and I'll need to follow somebody to the crime scene," Elliot said. "So if we're leaving, we'd better leave right now."

"All right, all right," Olivia muttered with disgust as she stalked out of the police station. She had just spent several minutes reassuring Allison and building up her self-confidence, only to have Anderson humiliate the poor kid by knocking her down a peg in front of all of them. Olivia wanted nothing more right now than to bitch-slap that prissy little Chief of Police all over his own parking lot.

What made her mood even fouler was the fact that the rain was coming down in sheets, now. She and Elliot ran to their car, but they were still drenched. Olivia's hair was plastered against her head.

"Oh man," Elliot groaned, as he started up the car. "I hope this shit lets up soon, or else the drive back will be a super bitch."

Olivia sat in angry silence while Elliot drove, following a Whitehope patrol car with its emergency lights flashing down Main Street.

"Let it go, Liv," Elliot abruptly said. He never took his eyes off the road.

She glared at him. "Allison's the only female officer on the entire Whitehope police force, and Anderson treats her like she's just a frigging secretary! It's almost like not only did we leave the city, but we also went back in time a hundred years, back when women were still considered as little more than slaves!"

Elliot wearily shook his head. "Olivia…"

"Don't tell me you think Anderson's right! Allison deserved to be out here with the rest of us."

"Look, I'm just saying that we may not know the entire situation," Elliot said. "Allison certainly seems like a good kid, but she _is_ just a kid, you know?"

"So you do think that frigging pig Anderson is right!" Olivia cried.

They arrived at the crime scene, which was on a narrow residential street that was lined with well-kept homes. Elliot parked the car on the corner and said, "You wanna know what I think? I really think you're getting too wrapped up in this."

"Oh, do you?"

"Yeah. You don't have to be an advocate for everybody you meet, Olivia. Allison's a big girl; she doesn't need you to fight her fights for her."

"Really? And you know what I don't need?" Olivia heatedly replied. "I don't need you picking my fights for me!"

With that, she got out of the car and slammed the door as hard as she could. Olivia stood on the street—there were no sidewalks here—in the pouring rain, wondering where the hell she was going to go now. She wasn't about to get back in the car with Elliot—fuck him—and yet she didn't feel right about going inside the house, since it wasn't her crime scene and she hadn't been asked inside yet. Although she was a detective with the NYPD, Olivia had no jurisdiction out here; officially, she was nothing more than an armed civilian. So she simply stood there and got soaked and felt miserable the whole time.

"Are you one of those people who likes the rain?" a man asked.

She glanced up and saw Lieutenant Kendall standing on the porch of the house that had been broken into. He was clad in a dapper suit with an overcoat. His PSP identification was clipped to the collar of his overcoat. His sandy brown hair was shaved close to his head in a military style cut. He was either in his late thirties, or a very youthful forty.

He regarded her with a bemused smile—which really annoyed Olivia. "Yeah," she replied as nonchalantly as she could. "I find the rain very bracing."

His smile became broader. "So I guess I'll just leave you to it, then."

'Shit, he called my bluff,' she thought. With a heavy sigh, Olivia went up the steps and stepped onto the porch.

Kendall stood holding a handkerchief out to her. "It's clean."

"Thanks." Olivia used it to dry her face and neck. She didn't bother with her hair, since that felt like it was so drenched, it was a lost cause.

"Roberson was here," Kendall told her. "He broke in through the back door and stole clothes, food and money. The neighbors saw him and called it in."

"Was anybody home at the time?" Olivia asked.

Kendall shook his head. "No. Everybody who lives here was out at work and school. The house was empty." He glanced at the street. "Your partner's coming."

Olivia watched as Elliot got out of the car and made his way up the steps.

When he arrived on the porch, Olivia relayed everything Kendall said.

"How do we know it was Roberson who broke in?" Elliot asked.

"We found the orange jail overalls he wore in the master bedroom," Kendall replied. "We'll know exactly what he stole as soon as the residents arrive, but it looks like he stopped off here to get supplies for a nice long trip."

"Do you know if he's on foot?" Olivia asked.

"The husband and wife work, and they took the two cars with them," Kendall said. "But that's not to say that Roberson couldn't have stolen a set of wheels right off the street. In any case, we haven't heard a peep from the road blocks yet."

"He may be holing up somewhere," Elliot said thoughtfully, "waiting for the rain to stop."

"If that's the case, it's going to be a long wait," Kendall said. "Because the forecast calls for the rain to continue heavily throughout the night and ending early tomorrow morning."

"Oh, great," Elliot muttered. He glanced at Olivia and added, "It's really gonna be a helluva road trip later."

"You two could spend the night," Kendall suggested. "Whitehope has a great inn called the Longmont. It's a famous historic landmark, actually; over two hundred years old."

"Thanks," Olivia said. "But we're on the NYPD's dime, and I doubt they'll splurge for us to stay at a place with a five-star rating."

Kendall shook his head. "It's owned and run by Peggy Noonan, who's something of a real character around here. It won't cost you a cent. Just tell her you're NYPD, and that you know me. She'll let you stay gratis."

Elliot still looked as if he had some reservations about staying over. Olivia glanced up at the pouring rain just beyond the porch. "I don't think the weather's giving us much choice in the matter, Elliot."

Elliot finally nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Who knows, if we're lucky, we might be taking Roberson back with us tomorrow."

"Assuming he's not wanted for doing anything here," Kendall grimly said.

"Here's hoping he's caught before he does anything further," Olivia said.

After Kendall gave them directions to the inn, Olivia and Elliot started back down the steps until the Lieutenant said, "Detective Benson? Just one more thing…."

"I'll get the car started," Elliot told her, as he hurried down the steps.

When Olivia rejoined Kendall on the porch, he said, "I couldn't help but notice your reaction to Anderson's treatment of Officer Pullman earlier. I just wanted to tell you that I've worked with Allison Pullman once before, and found her to be a thoroughly competent police officer who was extremely efficient at her job."

Olivia was both surprised, and heartened, to hear him say that. "Yeah, that's what I figured. Thanks for telling me."

Kendall paused to glance at the house, making sure that what he said next would not be overheard. "For what it's worth," he continued, sotto voce, "I completely agree with your assessment of Chief Anderson. He's a total dipshit who doesn't know what a diamond in the rough he's got working for him in Officer Pullman. It's a known fact in certain circles that Anderson's only police chief here because he was in the right place at the right time."

"It figures," Olivia said with a shake of her head. Olivia wished she had a nickel for every moron cop she had encountered who had no business wearing a badge. These useless idiots always made The Job harder for the real, dedicated police officers. "Well, thanks again, Lieutenant Kendall."

"Ben," he said. "The name's Ben."

"Olivia," she said after a second's hesitation.

There was an awkward moment of silence as they each stared warily at the other. Then Olivia realized she still held his handkerchief. She gave it back to him. "Thanks."

He nodded with just the slightest hint of a bemused smile. "No problem, Olivia."

As Olivia ran down the steps in the pouring rain, she couldn't shake the feeling that Lieutenant Ben Kendall of the Pennsylvania State Police had just been flirting with her.

###

"Oh, Christ," Olivia said with a heavy sigh. "What a day."

She sat on the edge of the bed in her room at the Longmont Inn. After a very long, draining day, this was the first bit of solitude Olivia had, and she cherished every second of it. While the owner of the inn, Peggy Noonan, was pleasant enough, she was still very chatty to the point of being annoying. All throughout dinner, she kept walking up to Olivia and Elliot's table in the dining room with yet another "interesting" historical fact about her inn.

The inn _was_ magnificent; there was no doubt about that. First built in 1789, it was a large, sprawling structure in the Federal style that was painted white with black trim. The problem was that Peggy Noonan was convinced that the place was haunted, and she wouldn't shut up regarding the countless lurid stories about the various ghosts that wandered the place from as far back as the Revolutionary War.

Once Peggy launched into a new series of ghost stories from the Civil War era, Olivia had just about all she could take. Feigning a headache, she excused herself from the dinner table, leaving poor Elliot alone with the chatterbox. From the pleased reaction Peggy had to her leaving, Olivia surmised that Peggy might have wanted some quality time alone with Elliot anyway. As she left the dining room, Olivia had glanced over her shoulder with a smile when she saw an extremely bored to tears Elliot pretending to be interested as Peggy rambled on about the ghost of a Northern Army drummer boy who was also known to wander the grounds.

"Really?" Olivia heard Elliot say, "I sure hope the little bugger doesn't play his drums too late at night!"

Olivia escaped to her room, which was very plush and luxurious, and took a shower. She got dressed in her pajamas, which were basically sweat pants and a t-shirt. Olivia always packed some extra clothes whenever she went on extradition duty, even if she didn't expect to spend the night, just in case.

She wasn't surprised when she soon let out a big yawn.

While it was still early, Olivia decided to turn in. Switching off the lights, she got into bed and pulled the covers over her.

She didn't know how long she had been asleep before she heard the noise. Actually, it was a series of noises that woke her up. At first she thought somebody was banging on her door, until she sat up in bed and was stunned at the sight before her.

In the dimness of the room, Olivia saw a person seated in the chair by the dresser. The person was thrashing around wildly, causing the legs of the chair to bang loudly and violently against the floor. This was the noise that woke her.

Stunned at the thought that somebody had snuck into her room while she slept, Olivia reached over to the nightstand with both hands and switched on the light and retrieved her Glock from its holster at the same time. With the room illuminated from the lamp, Olivia got to her feet and aimed her gun at the person seated in the chair.

But the chair was empty.

"What the fuck?" Olivia muttered, stunned. Just a split second ago, there was somebody seated in the chair, and now—

Olivia jumped back when the chair abruptly began to thrash around as badly as it did before. Only this time, there was nobody seated in it. Olivia stared in wide-eyed shock as the chair creaked and groaned and bumped around, almost as if in reaction to an invisible person seated on it.

Olivia instinctively brought up her gun, but when she realized that she had aimed her Glock at an empty chair, she lowered it again. Her mouth hung open in amazement as the chair continued to bump and rattle on its own. She presently stood barefoot on the floor, and yet she could not feel any vibrations or any signs of an earthquake that might have caused the chair to rattle as badly as it did. Besides, if there had been an earthquake, then the entire room would be shaking, and not just one specific piece of furniture.

The chair stopped rattling, and Olivia took a cautious step towards it. When she reached out with her hand, she felt a blast of icy air directly above the seat.

Then the lights in her room flickered, and the coldness grew in intensity, so much so that it filled the entire room. And Olivia had the strangest feeling that she was not alone.

'There's somebody standing behind me,' she realized with alarm.

Olivia abruptly spun around and brought the Glock up…only to slowly lower the gun, as she stared at her intruder in horror. Standing before her was a young blond woman, in her late teens or early twenties, who was barefoot, and clad in jeans and a gray t-shirt.

It was the exact same woman whom Olivia had seen in her dream earlier—the same one who tried to warn her to be careful—only now she stood before Olivia in her hotel room, no longer an apparition from dream but a real person, who now gazed back at Olivia with cold, lifeless eyes an with an expression of horror on her pale face.

**To Be Continued....**


	3. Chapter 3

_I'd like to thank those of you who placed this story on your alerts/faves lists. _

**Law & Order: SVU: Haunted**

**Chapter Three**

Olivia stood staring at a young woman who literally appeared out of nowhere right in the middle of her hotel room. When the woman began to speak, she was completely silent. Although the woman was practically shouting at her, Olivia could not hear a word she said.

'I never woke up,' Olivia thought in a cold panic, 'I'm still dreaming.'

She reached over and pinched her right forearm. The sharp pain she felt instantly let Olivia know she wasn't dreaming, that she was indeed awake. Yet now she was really in a quandary, because if Olivia wasn't dreaming, then how could she explain what was going on here?

The woman began to look truly desperate as she pleaded, cajoled and begged Olivia to do something. Although her mouth was forming words, no sound came from her vocal chords. It was a bizarre sensation for Olivia, as if she were trapped in a waking dream.

"Who are you?" Olivia asked, her voice unsteady. "What do you want from me?"

The woman stopped talking then and simply pointed at something over Olivia's shoulder. When she glanced back, Olivia saw that the woman had been pointing at the window. "You want me to look out the window?" she asked. "Is that what you—?"

When Olivia glanced back at the woman, she was gone. And in that instant, the lights in the room went up to their normal level, and the icy chill dissipated, replaced once more by the warmth from the radiator board.

"Oh, sweet Jesus," Olivia whispered, as she sat down on the edge of the bed. When she placed the Glock down beside her, Olivia's hand shook.

Olivia never believed in ghosts, or things that went bump in the night. After spending her entire adult life in the NYPD, she had learned that the things that regular human beings did to each other on a daily basis were horrible enough without worrying about some supernatural force at work.

But this, this was a little hard for her to ignore. How the hell was she going to deal with this…whatever just happened?

Then a realization hit her. 'You're a detective,' Olivia told herself, 'so start acting like one.'

There were three theories as to what this might be. The first was that it was a prank. Olivia glanced at the door, and saw that it was still locked, with the chain in place. It was just as she had left it. So if not from here, than where did this woman come from? She rechecked the closet and the bathroom, and found that the walls were pretty solid; there were no hidden passageways anywhere to be found.

Olivia removed her mini-flashlight from her jacket pocket and used it to carefully examine the chair. She saw no wires, or strings, or any way that someone could have manipulated the chair. However, she did see something interesting. The chair had a support rod that ran between the two front legs. This rod, like the rest of the chair, was made of wood. And Olivia noted there was an indentation within the center of the support rod, as if somebody tried to saw it in half, but then stopped. There were also similar indentations within the chair's back, as well.

Olivia knelt back on the floor and regarded the chair with a critical eye. It was probably almost as old as the inn itself, and had seen a lot of wear and tear over the years. These marks could be from anything.

And so there was no real evidence that somebody was pulling a prank on her, which left two theories: that Olivia was going insane, or that she had just seen a real ghost.

Olivia didn't feel like she was going insane, but that didn't really mean anything. As her fellow detective and friend John Munch once jokingly said to her, "If you're truly going nuts, you're usually the last one to know about it."

But her other friend and sometime shrink, George Huang, had once assured Olivia that she was one of the most stable people he'd ever met. And his word was good enough for her right now.

And so that left the last theory: she had really seen a ghost.

The ghostly woman had pointed at the window, and when Olivia glanced there and looked back at the woman, she was gone within the blink of an eye. Nobody moved that fast, no matter what great shape they might have been in. The woman had literally disappeared right in front of Olivia.

Peggy Noonan bragged about how haunted her inn was, yet the cast of the undead that supposedly wandered the halls of the inn were mainly from historical times, and if this woman whom Olivia had just seen had been a ghost, she was from the recent past, judging by her clothing. And besides, there was also the fact that Olivia had dreamt about this very same woman long before she even stepped foot in Whitehope.

'Both in the dream, and just now, this woman was frantic to tell me something,' Olivia thought. 'And just before she vanished, she wanted me to look out the window.'

Olivia got to her feet and went over to the window. She opened the curtains, raised the shade, and looked outside.

She wasn't surprised to see the ghostly woman standing out there, staring up at her. Olivia was surprised to see her abruptly point into the pitch-black woods.

'She wants me to go someplace,' Olivia realized. 'Why? Does she seriously think I can help her? Doesn't she know she's already dead?'

A loud pounding at the door startled Olivia. She reached for the Glock, clicked off the safety and aimed it at the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Elliot," came the voice from the other side of the door.

Olivia glanced out the window and saw the ghostly woman was gone once more. Letting out a sigh, Olivia holstered her gun and went to open the door.

Elliot leaned up against the doorway, glaring at her. "I saw your light was still on, and I just wanted to thank you for leaving me alone with 'Ms. I-See-Dead-People' downstairs. I swear, she must have the I.Q. of mold…."

"Yeah, well, I figured you needed to have a conversation with someone who was your intellectual equal," Olivia coolly replied. She had briefly thought about mentioning her weird experiences to Elliot, but not while he was in one of his moods like he was now.

"Oh, good one," Elliot said, nodding his head. "Ok, goodnight Liv. But fair warning: I'm getting you back for that."

Olivia just wearily shook her head. "Fine, Elliot. Whatever."

Elliot did a double take, and then frowned at her. "What is it, Olivia?"

His tone was serious; he was genuinely concerned for her, and Olivia came very close to telling him right there and then. But what would she say? 'I'm being haunted by this really pesky ghost, Elliot'? No matter how she phrased it in her mind, it always sounded crazy. Finally, she said, "I'm just very tired."

"And here I am pounding on your door while you're trying to sleep," Elliot said with an embarrassed shake of his head. "Sorry, Liv. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, El." Olivia closed the door and then proceeded to get fully dressed. She clipped on her gun holster and badge on her right hip, threw on her jacket, and left her room. She bounded down the steps, keeping a wary eye out for Peggy. The last thing Olivia wanted was to get caught by that chatterbox. Seeing the coast was clear—there was a night clerk manning the front desk—Olivia ran out the main doors and into the parking lot.

The rain was still pouring, and the downpour forced Olivia back under the awning by the front doors. She glanced over at the spot where she last saw the ghost woman, on the grassy knoll along the edge of the parking lot.

There was nothing there. Lamps lighted the grounds of the inn, but the area beyond was pitch-black; if the ghost woman was standing somewhere beyond the inn's grounds, Olivia couldn't see her. The woman obviously wanted her to see something, but Olivia had no idea what that would be.

'Oh, Christ, what am I doing?' Olivia suddenly thought. 'I'm standing around out here, waiting for a ghost to take me on a tour? Now I AM acting like I'm insane!'

Olivia stared into the darkness beyond the parking lot and whispered, "I don't think I can help you anyway. I'm sorry."

And with that, she went inside the inn and went back to bed. Olivia sat up with the light on for over an hour, keeping a wide-eyed vigil on the chair. But she soon fell asleep before she knew it. Olivia slept soundly, without any further outer worldly disturbances, for the rest of the night.

**###**

"There's really no reason for either of you to stay," Chief Anderson said, as he read some papers on his desk. "We have the situation well under control."

'If you had the situation under control, Roberson never would have escaped,' Olivia thought darkly. She and Elliot sat in the police chief's office the following morning to get a report from him on the manhunt. Instead of an update, Anderson basically gave them the kiss off. He acted as if he barely noticed they were in the room with him. Insulted by Anderson's snooty behavior towards them, Olivia glanced at Elliot, and he simply said, "C'mon, let's get out of here."

They both got up and left the office without so much as a goodbye look at Anderson. Olivia had called Cragen earlier, and he told her that if Roberson was still at large, that she and Elliot were to come back home today—which suited Olivia just fine. Not that there was really anything they could do about the situation, anyway. Olivia and Elliot primarily came out to bring Roberson back with them. Since that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, there was really no reason for them to stay.

As she left Anderson's office, Olivia couldn't help but notice a framed collection of newspaper headlines that he had on one wall. One of them read: HERO COP SAVES GIRL! Olivia was startled when she saw that it referred to Anderson. 'This clown actually saved somebody's life?' she thought, as she strode into the main office. Olivia looked around the station for Ben Kendall, yet she could not see him. She did see Allison, still manning the reception desk. Allison smiled in greeting.

"We're heading back to the city," Olivia told her.

"It was a pleasure meeting the both of you," Allison said. She glanced at Olivia and added, "And thanks."

"For what?" Olivia asked.

"For giving some words of encouragement to a cop who needed it. I really appreciated it, Olivia. I don't suppose the NYPD's hiring now, are they?"

"You have to live in the city," Elliot informed her.

"That wouldn't be a problem. Moving to New York might be a nice change of pace for me," Allison said, as she cast her eyes down at the papers on the desk. She looked back at them and quickly added, "I was just kidding."

Yet Olivia could see that she was still pained by her humiliation yesterday. "If you truly love The Job, then hang in there. Don't let that moron Anderson ruin your career. Speaking of whom, I noticed he's got a collection of newspaper headlines and clippings on a wall in his office. What's that about?"

"Back when he was a patrolman with the department, the chief stopped a guy for speeding—this was long before my time," Allison said. "And the guy turned out to be some kind of serial killer named Leon Fernier. He tried to pull a gun on the chief, but the chief shot and killed him before he could draw his weapon. It turned out that Fernier had a woman in the trunk of his car. He saved her life."

"Looks like Anderson's not that a bad guy after all," Elliot said. "Right, Liv?"

But Olivia was unbowed in her low opinion of the man. She recalled Ben Kendall's remark about how Anderson was in the right place at the right time. "Even idiots catch a break every now and then, Elliot. And besides, the egomaniac's got all of his news clippings up on the frigging wall! He's not exactly humble about it, is he?"

It took everything Allison had to keep from bursting into laughter at Olivia's comments. "Oh God," she said, giggling. "You're a pistol, Olivia."

"My close friends call me Liv," she said.

Allison smiled broadly at that. "And _my_ close friends call me Ally."

Olivia wrote down her e-mail address and phone number on a sheet of paper, when Allison saw what she was doing, she did the same. After they exchanged contact information and bid each other goodbye, Olivia made one last sweep of the stationhouse. Yet there was still no sign of Kendall.

"You need something, Liv?" Allison helpfully asked.

Olivia was caught off guard by that question. She thought her brief look around was too furtive for anybody to notice. And now she noticed that Elliot was staring at her strangely. "I just wanted to see if Ben—um, I mean, Lieutenant Kendall—if he was around," she said, sounding uneasy. "You know, just to say goodbye."

"Lieutenant Kendall's out searching the woods for Roberson with the state police contingent," Allison told her. "If you want, I can leave a message for him."

"No, that's all right," Olivia said, as she started walking out. "Thanks, Ally."

"Take care," Elliot said with a wave.

"Safe home!" Allison called to them.

Once they were in the parking lot, Elliot stopped to give Olivia a deadpan stare.

"What?" Olivia asked.

"Olivia's in love," Elliot said in a little sing-song voice. "Olivia's in love…."

Olivia groaned inwardly as she shook her head in disgust. "Elliot, do me a favor and kindly fuck off, ok?"

Grinning broadly, Elliot leaned over to her and repeated, "Olivia's in love…"  
In spite of herself, she had a bashful smile on her face. "I can't believe I'm gonna be stuck in a car with you singing that for the next few hours!"

"Nah, I'll only sing that for about an hour or so," Elliot promised. "And then I'll find something else to torture you with for the remaining few hours."

"I don't suppose we could settle for just listening to the radio?" she asked, as they got in the car.

"You take pleasure in the simplest things," Elliot said, as he started up the engine.

"That's why I like hanging out with you so much," Olivia retorted.

"Har de har-har," he replied sarcastically. As he pulled out of the parking lot and onto Main Street, he added, "New York City, here we come. I bet you can't wait to get back to civilization, huh?"

"Yeah," Olivia said, as she gazed wistfully at the quaint little streets of Whitehope. As much as she looked forward to the hustle and bustle of New York City--as well as seeing Alex again--Olivia hated leaving Whitehope empty-handed. And she especially hated leaving them with a psychopath like Roberson on the loose. Well, despite the fact that their chief is a dipshit, the Whitehope police department was filled with dedicated peace officers like Allison and Earl Langhorn. And they were backed up by the PSP. It shouldn't be too long before Roberson is--

Olivia thoughts were shattered when she saw a woman standing in the open field. It was the very same ghost woman from her dream, and who visited her in the hotel room last night.

She stared right at the car, her eyes fixed on Olivia's. The ghost woman then abruptly raised her arm and pointed at something in a thicket of trees on the other side of the field. She mouthed something, as she continued to point steadfastly in that direction.

"Oh, sweet Jesus," Olivia said, her voice choked up.

"What?" Elliot asked.

"Elliot, stop the car," Olivia told him. "Just stop the frigging car, NOW!"

The car came to a screeching halt as Elliot slammed on the brakes. "What is it, Liv?"

Olivia glanced back at the field, and saw that the ghost woman remained where she was, pointing frantically towards the thicket of trees. "There's a girl in the field," she said. "Do you see her?"

Elliot stared at the field with a frown. "What girl? What are you talking about?"

"I still see her," Olivia said, as she resolutely got out of the car.

"Liv, wait, where are you—?"

Elliot's voice faded away as Olivia jumped over the guardrail and ran towards the ghost woman. "What the hell do you want from me?" Olivia demanded. "I don't care who or what you are, if you don't tell me what you want right now…"

The ghost woman lowered her arm, and looked away from Olivia. When Olivia sensed movement at the corner of her eye, she glanced over at the thicket of trees.

A lone figure emerged from the foliage. It was a woman, who ran as if all the demons of hell were chasing her. Barelegged, she was clad only in a white button-down dress shirt. Her arms were pulled behind her back, and her mouth was covered with a gag of some sort.

"Oh, dear God," Olivia whispered in horror, as the bound woman kept running hysterically towards her.

Olivia met her halfway in the field. The woman collapsed into her arms while screaming hysterically beneath her gag. Olivia pulled out the gag out of her mouth, and then she reached into her jacket for her pocketknife to cut the woman's bonds.

"He still has Lisa!" the woman cried anxiously. "He still has Lisa back there!"

"Who?" Olivia said, as she sliced through the ropes that tied the woman's wrists behind her back. "Who has Lisa?"

"He said his name was Henry Lee," the woman told her. "He acted like we should know who he was. He broke into our apartment last night and kept us both prisoners! He kept talking about somebody called the master. How the master would be pleased with him."

"Who's Lisa?"

"Lisa's my roommate. I managed to get my feet untied and escape, but he still has her!" When Elliot ran up to them with a stunned look on his face, the woman ran into his arms and cried, "You have to call the police!"

"Easy, take it easy," Elliot soothed. "We are the police. What's your name?"

"Rae," the woman sobbed.

Olivia pulled her Glock from its holster. She looked around for the ghost woman, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Rae, where does Henry Lee have Lisa? Can you show us?"

"It's back there somewhere," Rae cried. She made a general gesture in the direction of the thicket of woods. "Oh God, I forgot where I came out of, it all looks the same to me!"

"I'm calling this in," Elliot said, as he dug out his cell phone. "The more cops we have out here, the better chance we'll have of finding her."

'Yeah, but by that time she'll be dead,' Olivia thought. She was annoyed that Rae couldn't be more specific—until she glanced at the woods and saw the ghost woman. She now stood fifty yards away from Olivia, pointing into the dense foliage.

"I think I know where Lisa is," Olivia said, before she broke into a run. She dimly heard Elliot calling after her, and ignored him. She kept running, always staying focused on the ghost woman ahead of her. In addition to her overriding desire to stop Roberson before he could hurt Lisa, Olivia was overwhelmed with guilt. Was this what the ghost woman had been trying desperately to show Olivia last night? And if Olivia had followed her gut instinct and allowed the ghost to show her, would these poor women have been spared a horrible evening of torture and God knows what else at the hands of Henry Lee Roberson?

Olivia stumbled on some loose rocks, and when she glanced up again, the ghost woman was gone once more.

"No!" Olivia angrily cried. She pushed her way through the dense trees and foliage. "If you want me to save Lisa, then you have to show me where she is!"

"Here."

Olivia was startled by the sound of that one word being whispered right into her ear. It had been a female voice that said it, yet nobody stood near her right now. But once she turned at the sound of that voice, Olivia caught sight of a structure of some kind through the foliage in the same direction from where she heard the woman speak.

Olivia battled her way through the foliage, until she came into a clearing, and saw an abandoned old house looming before her.

The ghost woman stood before the house, and pointed urgently at it. She mouthed a word that Olivia could not hear, but she could read the woman's lips well enough to know what she had said: "Here."

Olivia steeled herself as she brought the Glock up before her and charged the house. She saw the ghost woman pointed at a back door, and decided that would be where she entered. Sure enough, as Olivia gently nudged the door with her foot, it swung open.

Olivia stepped into a kitchen that had not served food in a long time. She made sure to point the Glock in every direction that she looked, and only when she was sure that it was safe did she advance further into the house. The air was stale and musty, and she poked her gun through a massive cobweb that had been spun over the doorway. As she peered down a darkened hallway, Olivia found herself wondering what the hell she was doing in here. She was taking the word of a ghost, a spectral being who may or may not be real, that there was another woman in danger in this house.

And then, right at that moment, she heard it: a low, muffled sound of a woman crying. It came from upstairs.

As she approached the staircase, Olivia saw the ghost woman once more. She pointed up the stairs, confirming what Olivia already knew. And then she turned to Olivia and mouthed two words: "Be careful."

Olivia's very blood ran cold as she nodded at the ghost. So this was what the dream had been about all along. This is what the ghost woman wanted to warn her about. It all came down to the next few minutes.

Olivia ascended the stairs, being careful to stay on the edge of each step so as to not cause any telltale creaking that would warn Roberson of her approach. When she arrived at the second floor, a dim light broke the darkness. Olivia followed it down the hallway, to a room at the far end, and when she peered through the doorway, it appeared to Olivia that she now stared straight into hell itself.

Henry Lee Roberson sat on the floor in a cross-legged position. His eyes were closed, and the serene expression on his face was in sharp contrast to the writhing, moaning figure on the floor next to him. A young woman, who was no doubt Kayla's roommate Lisa, lay bound and gagged on a rolled out sleeping bag, clad only in an extra-large t-shirt.

Taking a deep breath, Olivia aimed the Glock at Roberson and shouted, "POLICE! Get your hands where I can see them!"

Lisa let out a startled cry from under her gag, but if Roberson was surprised at Olivia's presence, he didn't show it. Instead he merely opened his eyes and said, "So good of you to join us."

"Henry Lee Roberson, put your hands up," Olivia ordered, "now!"

"You know my name," Roberson said, as a slow smile crept across his face. "Excellent. I'd start the party now, but I would please ask for your patience, for the Master has not yet arrived."

"Don't fuck with me, Roberson," Olivia warned, "or I will drop you right where you sit!"

"There's no fucking allowed," Roberson calmly said, "at least not until the Master says so."

Roberson abruptly got to his feet, a handgun in one hand, which he began to raise—

—just as Olivia squeezed the trigger, and her Glock barked once.

Roberson's body jerked violently, as he fell to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been abruptly cut.

No sooner did he land on the floor than was Olivia right on top of Roberson. She kicked the gun out of his hand and then pointed her own Glock right at his face. But the fight had left him. Olivia had put a slug in his left shoulder, and now Roberson lay moaning in pain.

'Better than what you deserve, you sick fuck,' Olivia thought, as she roughly rolled Roberson on his side and cuffed his wrists together behind his back.

When Lisa started screaming wildly beneath her gag, Olivia said, "It's all right, honey! I have to make sure this bastard is secure, and I'll come over and free you."

But Lisa continued to scream madly, as if she never heard a word Olivia said.

And then Olivia saw the light.

It was a faint blue glow that increased in intensity, steadily illuminating the room, its source was directly behind Olivia. Roberson raised his head, stared into the light, and also began screaming in fear. His eyes were wide and insane with terror.

Olivia swung around, her Glock at the ready, and then let out a sharp gasp of shock.

It was the ghost woman. She floated into the room, her feet dangling over the floor, her entire body aglow in the bluish light—except for her eyes, which flared a crimson red with hellish fury. The ghost woman was enraged about something, and her hands angrily clawed the air in front of her as she silently ranted and raved.

Lisa was struggling to writhe away from the ghost until Olivia came over to the poor girl and untied her bonds—all while never taking her eyes off of the enraged specter that floated in front of them.

'But why?' Olivia wondered. 'I did what she wanted…I saved Lisa. So what does she have to be angry about?'

No sooner were Lisa's arms free than she wrapped them around Olivia in a tight hug. "I want my mommy, I want my mommy," she said, over and over again. She was an adult woman in her early twenties who had been reduced to a quivering child in Olivia's arms.

Not that Olivia could blame her. There were very few moments in Olivia's life that truly frightened her. One was the HIV scare she had a few years back, and more recently was just a few years ago, when she and Casey were the helpless captives of the madman Edward Lister. And now this moment, where Olivia found herself completely helpless before a raving specter, overwhelmed all those other moments of terror.

And Olivia could not help but wonder fearfully if this would be the last moment of life that she would ever have.

**To Be Continued....**


	4. Chapter 4

_Once more, I'd like to thank those of you who have placed this story on your alert/fave lists. _

**Law & Order: SVU: Haunted**

**Chapter Four**

"What is it?' Olivia asked the ghost. "What's wrong?"

The ghost woman continued to hover there before them, furiously ranting and raving—until a shaft of white light cut through her body, and within that instant, she was abruptly gone.

Yet the shaft of white light remained. It stabbed through the dimness as a male voice shouted, "Police!"

"In here!" she called. "We're in here!"

Elliot entered the room with Earl Langhorn. Both men had their guns drawn. "Good Lord," Langhorn muttered under his breath.

"I had to shoot Roberson," Olivia told them as Lisa continued to hug her tightly. "He tried to pull a gun on me. He's got a slug in his shoulder. He needs a bus."

"An ambulance is already on the way," Langhorn told her.

"Why have you forsaken me, Master?" Roberson cried as he lay on the floor. "Why have you forsaken me? Uggghh….."

Roberson began convulsing violently, his eyes rolling up until they were completely white, as Elliot bent down to try and help him. But Roberson's body abruptly seized up before it slumped back against the floor--where it lay very still.

Elliot felt Roberson's neck for a pulse, then he shook his head. "He's dead."

"Good riddance," Langhorn muttered.

"But I shot him in the shoulder," Olivia said, puzzled, as she continued to hold a sobbing Lisa. "How could he be dead?"

Langhorn glanced at Olivia and said, "You deserve a medal for putting that son of a bitch down, detective."  
"Couldn't agree more, Liv," Elliot added. "Don't feel bad."

"I don't feel bad," she assured him. But as she gazed at the body of Henry Lee Roberson, Olivia still couldn't figure out what could have killed him. Then a frightening thought occurred to her.

'Was it the ghost?' she wondered. 'Did she finally get her revenge on Roberson?'

Since the shooting, along with the rescue of the women, took place just outside of Whitehope's city limits, on an access road by the highway, the PSP took over the investigation. That meant that Olivia found herself under the scrutiny of Ben Kendall once more. But the Lieutenant made it clear to her up front that he thought this was a clean shooting; Olivia had shot only to wound Roberson, and the paramedics who collected Roberson's body said it looked as if he suffered a fatal heart attack--and although their estimate wasn't yet the official report, that suited Kendall, who gave Olivia and Elliot clearance to leave, if they wished.

Kendall had handed Olivia his card, which she noted also had his private number written on it in ballpoint pen.

"In case you ever need to talk," Kendall told her. "Completely off the record--not as cops, but simply as a man and woman."

Olivia stared at him, dumbfounded at his forwardness. If she had wondered if Kendall had flirted with her before, there was no doubt about it now. "Uh, thanks--but, you should know that I'm spoken for."

"So am I," Kendall replied with a smile. "But I'd be willing to break it off for you!"

Olivia was so shocked, she didn't know what to say to that, and so she said nothing. She was grateful--in more ways than one--to finally have left with Elliot. On the drive home, Elliot had praised Olivia's actions--along with her eagle eye at spotting the girl. And Olivia realized that Elliot had assumed Olivia had initially spotted Rae in the field. She uneasily accepted his praise. It actually had been her sighting of a ghost which first caught Olivia's attention of the dire situation. But she left that little detail out of her report to the PSP, and now Olivia wrestled with the idea of even telling Elliot.

'But what difference does it make now?' Olivia realized. 'It's all over.'

Olivia was still stunned at the whole affair. Just the fact that she had even _seen _a ghost was shocking enough for her, but the fact that she'd helped the ghost to seek some kind of resolution simply blew Olivia's mind. Yet, judging from the enraged reaction that the ghost had, the dead woman certainly didn't look as if Roberson's death had been a resolution.

'Oh, Christ,' Olivia thought, as she wearily rubbed her face. 'I can't even believe I'm thinking about this!'

"You all right?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah," she replied with a nod. Olivia still wasn't going to tell him--until something within her broke down. This _was _Elliot, after all; a man who was not only her partner, but the closest thing to a brother she'd ever had. And with a heavy sigh, she told Elliot the entire crazy story.

Elliot just listened with intense concern until she was finished. "So, you didn't actually see Rae at first in the field, but the ghost?" he asked.

Olivia nodded. "Yeah, um, she--the ghost--even pointed out the direction for me to take so that I could find Lisa and Roberson. I know it sounds crazy, Elliot, but I swear I saw her all along!"

"I believe you," he told her.

Olivia felt a wave of relief wash over her. "You do?"

"Oh, yeah. Look, Liv, every cop has at least one really weird story in his career," Elliot said. "Did I ever tell you mine?"

"You mean the one about the guy who thought he was possessed by demons?" Olivia said with a nod. "You told me that one already. It turned out he was just crazy."

"No, not that one," Elliot replied. "This happened back when I was walking the beat. One day, I look up and see a young woman standing on the ledge of a tenement building. She's wearing nothing but a slip, and it looks like she's about to jump off. So I call it in, while I run up there to try and stop her."

Elliot shook his head. "Only thing is, once I get up to the roof, she's nowhere to be seen. The only way back down was the stairs, and I didn't pass her there. The unit that responds helps me to look around, but there's no sign of her at all. An old man who lives in the building told me of a young woman who died of a drug overdose on the roof about twenty years ago. She tells me that what I saw walking around up there was her ghost! I don't believe him--at least until a few days later, when I walk by the building while on my rounds, and there she is, standing on the ledge, dressed exactly the same. The people in the neighborhood called her the Rooftop Angel."

"Good Christ," Olivia said quietly. "How come you never told me this story?"

"Because you're so practical and down to earth, Liv--and I mean in the best way possible. I was always afraid you'd think I was nuts."

"I've always thought the same of you, El." Olivia laughed. "And here I thought _you'd _think _I _would be nuts."

"Oh, I think you're flat-out nuts, all right," Elliot said with a smile. "But I still believe your ghost story."

"Thanks so much for the support," Olivia said sarcastically. Still, she was grateful that she told him, for it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. When she saw Elliot smile broadly, she asked, "What?"

"Nothing," he replied. "It's just that Casey is a nut for this ghost stuff. She loves those ghost hunter shows they've got on TV. You've seen them?"

"You mean the one with the plumbers who do ghost hunting on the side?" Olivia said with a roll of her eyes. "Like who'd believe these two would still be working as plumbers when they're the stars of their own TV show!"

Elliot laughed uproariously at that. "I know! I try telling Casey that, but she still loves that show! I know she'll love hearing _this_ story--if that's all right with you."

"Feel free to tell her, if you want to," Olivia told him. "I trust Casey to keep it to herself."

With Elliot driving like the maniac that he usually was, and thanks to light traffic for most of the trip on 80, they were back in the city within an hour and a half after leaving. Olivia was annoyed when, as she and Elliot entered the SVU bullpen, Munch stood up and yelled, "Here she is!"

Olivia's cheeks blushed in embarrassment as the entire bullpen rose up and applauded her joyously. A smiling Elliot leaned over and said, "Enjoy it, Liv. You've more than earned it."

She shook her head. "But I told you, it wasn't really--"

"Ghost or no ghost," he whispered in her ear, "in the end, you still took down Roberson on your own. And nobody--dead, or alive--can take that away from you."

Cragen emerged from his office and congratulated her with a hand shake. George Huang was also there, and although he also offered his congratulations, the psychiatrist appeared to be studying Olivia intently.

"Another lowlife scumbag takes a well-deserved dirt nap," Fin told her. "Thanks to you. Good going, Liv!"

"I just shot him in the shoulder," Olivia replied, as she uneasily settled in at her desk. "It looked like he croaked of a heart attack."

"Yeah, but you still stopped him and saved the lives of two women in the process," Munch chimed in. "Great job!"

Then Olivia realized why she felt so uneasy--everybody was giving her credit for being a hero, when in actuality it was the result of the ghost of a dead woman who saved the lives of Rae and Lisa. Despite what Elliot whispered to her before, Olivia still felt less than honest taking all the credit for this.

And the sight of Huang staring thoughtfully at Olivia really wasn't helping matters much. 'He senses my discomfort,' she realized. 'It won't be long before he comes over and asks--'

"Are you ok?" Huang asked her, his face tight with concern. "Excuse me for saying, Liv, but you appear a little uneasy."

As much as Olivia liked and respected George Huang, a psychiatrist was the very last person whom she wanted to speak with right now--not if she wanted to keep her job. And talking about ghosts to a shrink may well put Olivia on a desk assignment for the rest of her career.

"Yeah, uh, I'm good," Olivia replied, as she placed her stuff on the desk. "It's been a long day, as you can imagine."

"It couldn't have been easy," Huang said, nodding his head sympathetically. "If you should need to talk…."

"I know who to go to," Olivia said with a smile.

That appeared to satisfy Huang, if only for the moment. He had left her alone so that Olivia could finally look through her files on Roberson. Included were photos of his dead victims, and Olivia was annoyed to see that none of Roberson's victims looked anything like the ghost woman who had haunted her for the past two days.

'Unless she was an unknown victim,' Olivia thought. 'One who was killed by Roberson but is still officially listed as being missing. Maybe she's a Jane Doe in a morgue somewhere--or, much worse, she could still be buried in a shallow grave where Roberson left her. Maybe that was why she appeared so agitated, even after Roberson was caught.'

Elliot abruptly appeared by her side. "What you looking at?"

"Roberson's victims," she told him in a whisper. "None of them match what the ghost looked like."

"The Roberson case is now closed," Elliot said.

Olivia shook her head. "It may not be for this ghost."

"But it is for you," Elliot gently told her, as he reached out and shut off Olivia's computer. "Huang's been hovering around you, and now he's just walked into Cragen's office."

"Oh, shit," Olivia muttered.

Just as Olivia had feared, Cragen walked into the bullpen and said, "Olivia, could I see you for a moment?"

"Sure thing, Cap," Olivia said with a smile plastered on her face. At the back of her mind, a little voice muttered, '…shit, shit, shit…' over and over again.

Once she got inside Cragen's office, the Captain asked if Olivia could go over what happened with him. Olivia did, reciting everything that happened, but leaving out the parts that concerned the ghost--this was the same basic story that she gave Ben Kendall.

When she was done, both Cragen and Huang appeared satisfied. "Are you ok, Olivia?" Cragen asked.

Although she knew full well that Cragen was concerned for her safety, Olivia couldn't help but wonder if that question from the Captain was spoken more for Huang's benefit. She could feel the psychiatrist's intense gaze as he studied her face.

"I'm fine, sir," she told Cragen in her best calm tone. "But, truth be told, I _am_ a little tired…."

"Take the rest of the day off," Cragen told her. "And, since it's Friday, you might as well make it the entire weekend, Liv. You've earned it."

That actually sounded like a great idea to Olivia, who could use some time away from the job. "Thank you, sir!"

"Remember, Olivia," Huang chimed in, "if you should need to talk…."

"I've got you on speed dial," Olivia said, as she quickly left the office.

Cragen walked out with her and called to Elliot, "I'm giving your partner the rest of the week off. It's pretty slow today, Elliot, so why don't you also take off and see that Olivia gets home all right?"

"Sure, Captain," Elliot replied as he grabbed his coat.

Olivia turned to Cragen and said, "But I'm fine, Captain. Really."

"I know," Cragen said with a nod. He continued sotto voce: "But our esteemed shrink seems to think you might have some leftover issues from the shooting. You seem fine to _me_, but I'm not leaving anything to chance, especially when it concerns the health of one of my best detectives. So just humor me, Olivia."

Olivia gave him a weary nod. "Yes, sir."

"You guys stopping off at Mulligan's?" Munch asked.

Olivia thought about it for a moment. She had been planning to go straight home--until she realized that Alex wouldn't be home for a while, yet. And so when Elliot gave her a questioning look, she nodded in approval.

"Sure," Olivia replied. "We'll meet you guys there?"

"To hell with that," Fin said, as he got up from his desk. "I'm done right now!"

After Munch and Fin cleared their early leave with Cragen, Olivia found herself riding down in the elevator with Elliot, Munch and Fin. There were times when these men whom she worked with on a daily basis had become very overprotective of her, and Olivia got that notion right now.

When they arrived at Mulligan's, Elliot and the others went to get a table while Olivia took a moment to call Alex. She wasn't answering, so Olivia left her a message that stated she was back in the city--at Mulligan's--and to give her a call back.

When Olivia ended her call, she arrived at the table to see Elliot, Munch and Fin all stare at her with sympathy.

"You finally got your own creepy cop story, huh?" Fin asked her.

Olivia glared at Elliot. "Thanks for keeping my private life private, El! I said you could tell Casey; not the whole precinct."

"They saw you were upset about something, and they were concerned," Elliot replied, with his hands held up. "I figured it would be best to tell them."

"Don't worry, Liv," Munch assured her. "This is just between us."

"It don't leave this table," Fin added.

"Besides," Elliot said, as he gestured at Munch and Fin, "I thought you might like to hear some more cop ghost stories."

"You guys, too?!" Olivia said in amazement as she took a seat at the table. They had already ordered a beer for her and she took a sip.

"Oh, yeah!" Fin replied. He glanced at Munch. "You wanna go first?"

Munch nodded. "Back when I was a cop in Baltimore, we were searching this house for a suspect. It was an abandoned old place, and we got a tip that the suspect was squatting there. Well, once we entered, we started hearing footsteps from the attic upstairs. Thinking that was the suspect, we went up there in force--only to find the attic was completely empty. With the exception of a rocking chair in the corner that kept rocking all by itself."

After drinking some of his beer, Munch added, "There was no other way out of the attic, except where we came up through--the windows were even boarded up. And, as if that wasn't enough, the rocking chair then stopped rocking, and we heard the footsteps walking around the attic--but there was nobody there! We still made a sweep for the perp, but my partner and I couldn't get out of that place fast enough."

"You eventually caught the guy, right, John?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah, we got him, and when we did, he confirmed to us that he did stay there--but he didn't last the night. He said that once he saw a ghostly apparition--a big, dark shape that floated above the floor--coming at him in the attic, _he_ couldn't get out of there fast enough!"

"Oh, God," Olivia muttered, as she rubbed the goosebumps on her arm. "Did you ever find out the story about that place?"

Munch just shook his head. "No, the city tore it down soon after, and many people--including myself--were glad to see it go!"

Olivia glanced over at Fin. "And you, too? You saw a ghost, as well?"

Fin took a sip of his beer. "It happened back when I was still working Narcotics. A sting op went south--our informant got made and we had to move in. It was pure pandemonium, Liv. People running everywhere, that sort of thing. I go down to the basement and see a dude standing there with blood all over his chest. He's staring down at this big gaping wound in his chest like he can't believe it, y'know?"

Fin shook his head at the memory. "Anyways, I start telling him to sit down and take it easy--that an ambulance is on the way. But then he just urgently points at something behind me. I turn, and I see this crazy motherfucker coming at me with a machete! So I shoot him. Once he's down, I turn to the wounded guy and see that he's gone! I find him in another room, laying on the floor, dead. I thought he ran away and died on me, y'know? But I find out later from the M.E. that the wounded dude had been dead for several hours at that point!"

Olivia's eyes went wide. "Wait, if he was already dead in another room, then--?"

"--then how could he be standing there, with me being able to see him as plain as day? How could he have warned me about Mr. Machete?" Fin asked. "All I know now is that a dead man--a ghost--saved my life that day, Liv."

"Wow," Olivia said, awed. "You guys have some amazing stories!"

"Naw, Liv, _you've_ got the amazing story," Fin told her.

"Yeah," Elliot said. "Welcome to the weird cop story club."

"Took you long enough!" Munch said jokingly.

Olivia smiled at them in gratitude. "Thanks, guys. You don't know how much this means to me. It's always great to know that you're not alone, no matter what you're facing." She raised her beer bottle in a toast. "To weird cop stories!"

"To weird cop stories!" Elliot, Fin and Munch all said in unison, as they raised their beers and toasted along with Olivia.

###

To Olivia's delight--and eternal appreciation--Alex was also more than understanding when Olivia told her the whole story later that night in their apartment. After Olivia expressed her surprise at how well Alex accepted the strange tale, Alex thoughtfully said, "'And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'"

When Olivia frowned at her in puzzlement, Alex leaned over on the sofa they were on and gently caressed the side of Olivia's face. "That's Hamlet, silly. Didn't you study Shakespeare in school?"

"Not to the point where I can throw quotes like that around," Olivia admitted. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's the point in the play where Horatio expresses disbelief at the fact that Hamlet is conversing with a ghost, and that's what Hamlet tells him."

"'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy,'" Olivia recited, with a nod. "Yeah. That's right. But don't tell me that _you've_ got a ghost story to share, as well, Alex."

"No, I've never seen a ghost--at least, not yet," Alex said. "But I worked on a case where the police used a psychic to find a dead body. Since the body was discovered through unnatural means, there was some fancy legal wrangling on my part just to get it entered in the court case as evidence."

Olivia nodded as a realization struck her. "Although _I've_ never used one, cops have used psychics in their cases for years. They've even made a TV show out of it, didn't they?"

"Medium," Alex said with a nod. "And how much of a stretch is _that_ from seeing a ghost? You should count yourself as being very lucky to have had this experience, Liv."

"I suppose I should," Olivia replied. "But I'm just as happy that it's over."

They went to bed, then. And, after making passionate love, fell asleep in a loving embrace.

When Olivia awoke in the middle of the night, she gazed smiling at a slumbering Alex next to her. Then she glanced over at the foot of the bed, and promptly let out a yelp in terror.

The ghost woman stood there, at the foot of their bed, impatiently yelling something at Olivia--yet, as always, her voice was muted. Her mouth spoke at a rapid pace, but Olivia heard no words.

Alex, startled out of her sleep by Olivia's reaction to their ghostly intruder, let out a scream as she clutched Olivia tightly. "WHO THE HELL IS THAT?!"

"It's her, Alex," Olivia said, as they both sat up hugging each other tightly in bed. "It's the ghost whom I've been seeing these past few days."

Alex stared fearfully as the ghost paced back and forth in front of them, ranting and raving in silence. "Why is she haunting our apartment?!"

"That's a good question," Olivia said, as she slowly reached over to the nightstand and turned on the light.

As soon as the room was illuminated by the lamp, the ghost vanished.

"Wha--?" Alex said, confused. "Where'd she go?"

Just to be on the safe side, Olivia did a sweep of their apartment with her gun drawn--and a nervous Alex accompanied her, anxiously clutching Olivia's free hand as they both cleared each room of their abode.

When the search was done, and their apartment turned out to be secure, Olivia and Alex each wearily took a seat at the counter in the kitchen. Olivia glanced at her lover, who was clad only in an over-size t-shirt with the words "kiss me, I'm a lawyer!" written on the front. Smiling, Olivia grabbed Alex's hand, kissed it, and said, "Congratulations, sweetie, now you've got your own ghost story to tell."

"But why is she here?" Alex asked, still frightened. "Is she haunting _us_, now? And if so, why?"

Olivia's smile faded as she considered the reasons why the ghost appeared in her own home. "I think I may have brought her back with me. I think she's still haunting me because she's restless over the fact that something is still left undone. Whatever's going on out in Whitehope, Alex, it's still far from over."

Alex gazed at her with wide eyes behind her glasses. "What are you going to do?"

"I've got the weekend off," Olivia said grimly. "So I'm gonna spend it finding out just what's got this ghost so pissed off. I'm going back to Whitehope tomorrow."

"No," Alex said firmly. "_We're_ going to Whitehope tomorrow--together."

"Alex, are you sure?" Olivia asked.

"Yes. Because, whatever the hell is going on, I'll be damned if I let you face it alone, Liv."

"Thank you, babe." Olivia was so overwhelmed with emotion that she hugged Alex tightly. The fact of the matter was she was extremely pleased to have Alex by her side.

Olivia only hoped, as they set out to face the unknown, that she and Alex would be able to handle whatever ghastly secret they uncovered.

**To Be Continued....**


	5. Chapter 5

_I'd like to thank Barbarossa Rotbart for her review last time. _

**Law & Order: SVU**_**: Haunted**_

**Chapter Five**

"And so a 'residual' is not really a ghost?" Alex asked.

"No…well, it's still paranormal phenomena," Casey explained. She sat next to Alex in the back seat of the car. "It takes on the appearance of a ghost. But it's basically psychic energy that's been left behind. If someone is murdered, or if even someone had a great outburst of emotion, their energy is somehow recorded in that space, and what you get is a playback of what happened--nothing more. It doesn't actually interact with people. That's known as a residual."

"Do they know how this stuff gets recorded?"

"There's many theories--one of which is quartz, a mineral that's found all over. Many paranormal researchers believe that quartz is a natural recording device for ghostly phenomena."

Alex stared at her in amazement. "I had no idea there was _any_ research being done into ghosts--much less at the level that you're describing!"

"Well, many paranormal researchers aren't very respectable," Casey said with a shake of her head. "I mean, unlike the regular sciences, there's no standard educational process that people must go through in order to become qualified researchers of the paranormal. And so you have a lot of morons out there who have no idea of what they're doing, and they're the ones who really hurt the credibility of the whole field."

Alex nodded in understanding. "So, a residual is just a recording of a past event, as opposed to your standard ghost…."

"A ghost is exactly what it is: the spirit of a deceased person. It's a form of energy that's sentient, much like what you and Olivia saw last night."

Olivia, who listened to this exchange from in the passenger seat, glanced over at Elliot--who drove--and jokingly said, "Who ya gonna call? Casey Novak! She ain't afraid of no ghosts!"

Against his better judgment, Elliot burst into a giddy fit of laughter.

"That's the thanks I get for giving up my weekend plans to go ghost hunting with you guys?" Casey asked good-naturedly. With her reddish-blond hair pulled back into a pony tail, and casually clad as she was in jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers, Casey looked more like a soccer mom than the SVU's assistant district attorney right now.

"She's right, Liv," Alex chided her lover. "Be nice."

"Yeah," Elliot joined in, "Casey even went through the trouble of packing her official Ghostbusters ray gun, too!"

Then he burst into snickering laughter once more--and this time, Olivia joined in, as she imagined the silly sight of a grim-looking Casey dressed like a Ghostbuster from the movie; blasting apparitions with her ray gun.

"It's not actually a ray gun, Elliot," Casey shot back. "At least…that's not what they called it in the movies…."

Olivia gazed back at her with amazement. "You mean you know the actual name of the gizmo they used in the movie? Jesus, Casey, you really _are_ a geek for this stuff, huh?"

"I've always been fascinated by ghosts," Casey admitted with a shrug. "All my life, I've been drawn to stuff that dealt with them--TV shows, movies, books."

Olivia nodded as she gazed at Casey in appreciation. Originally, it was only going to be just her and Alex who would return to Whitehope today. But while they were packing, Olivia got a call from Elliot, who was just checking up on her. When she told him what she was doing, Elliot abruptly excused himself and, promising to call back, got off the phone for a second.

When he called back five minutes later, Elliot said, "We'd like to come with you and Alex, Liv. Case and me; we'd like to join you on your trip back to Whitehope, if that's ok."

Olivia had no problems with that, and neither did Alex when she told her. And now, as Olivia sat in the car and gazed at her friends, co-workers and lover, she suddenly realized just how lucky she was to be surrounded by a cadre of caring people.

"Thank you," she now sincerely told Casey. She glanced at Elliot and added, "All of you; I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I really appreciate you guys coming with me, here. And the fact that you've come all the way out here, based just on my crazy stories--"

"Hey, I saw the ghost as well, remember?" Alex reminded her. "So, if you're crazy, then count me in, too!"

"We're all Ghostbusters today," Elliot said in a profound manner. "Off to do battle with the supernatural!"

"I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this, that's all," Olivia told him. "I'm not out to 'battle' anything!"

"Good idea," Casey said, "since it's kind of hard to fight something that's already dead."

There was an uneasy silence in the car, until Alex said, "Ok, I'm now officially scared…."

"Sorry," Casey said sheepishly. "I didn't mean--"

"No, that's all right," Alex quickly assured her. "No harm done."

"I was just thinking," Elliot spoke up, "instead of Ghostbusters, we're more like Scooby and the Gang. You remember the cartoon?"

"Sure," Olivia said with a eager nod. "Casey could be Daphne, since her hair color's about the same."

"Wait, wasn't Daphne a blonde?" Casey asked.

"Yeah, but if _you're_ Daphne, Case, then that means that _I'm_ Fred," Elliot said with a smug smile. "The good looking guy in the group."

Olivia stared at him critically. "Actually, you'd be a better Shaggy."

Elliot gave her a shocked look. "Do I look like a stoner type?"

"Shaggy wasn't a stoner, Elliot!" Alex cried from the back seat.

"Of course he was," Elliot insisted. "He was always hungry, right? Total pot head!"

"Oh, God!" Alex said melodramatically. "Well, there goes _my _Saturday childhood memories!"

"What I want to know is, who's Velma?" Olivia asked. Her eyes grew wide with shock when everyone in the car stared right at her. "What?! Me?!"

"Well, since we're going on hair color," Casey told her. "Yours is the closest to Velma's, Liv."

Olivia stared at Alex, who just nodded in agreement with Casey. "She's right, Liv. And plus, you're a lesbian, just like Velma."

"Wait a minute," Elliot said, staring at her through the rear view mirror. "You couldn't handle Shaggy being a pot head, but you can take Velma being a lesbian?"

"Nothing wrong with being a lesbian, Elliot," Alex replied with a winning smile.

"That's true," he admitted.

"Oh, great…I'm Velma," Olivia muttered with mock-disgust. "I'm the know-it-all lesbian of the group…."

"Just like in real life," Elliot said, with a broad grin.

Both Casey and Alex erupted into laughter as Olivia glared at Elliot with a murderous look.

"I am _so_ getting you for that, El," Olivia promised him.

"Oh, I know," he replied, still grinning. "But it was well worth it."

When they arrived at Whitehope, Elliot pulled into the parking lot of the Longmont Inn. As they got out of the car, both Casey and Alex were mighty impressed with the Colonial-era structure. Alex liked the inn for its Early American style, while Casey thought it was a place that was ripe for ghost sightings.

Olivia, who had called ahead to reserve a pair of rooms, signed in with Peggy at the front desk. The innkeeper was so pleased to see that they were back--particularly Elliot--that she was willing to let them stay again for free.

But Olivia insisted that they pay their way this time. "It's not official business," she told Peggy. "We're just spending the weekend here."

Peggy grudgingly accepted their money--but still insisted on taking only half of what she normally charged. Olivia was pleasantly surprised to see that Peggy didn't even bat an eye at the fact that she shared a room with Alex.

However, when it came time for Elliot and Casey to get their room, Peggy looked heart-broken. "You're together?!" she said, staring in disbelief at the two of them. "You're a couple?!"

Once they went upstairs, they paused in the hallway outside of their rooms.

"Ok," Casey said to the group. "What was_ that_ all about?"

"Yeah," Alex added. "She didn't blink an eye at giving a room to a pair of lesbians, but she got all bent out of shape with Elliot and Casey? What gives?"

Olivia burst into laughter while Elliot just stared at the ceiling in frustration. "She's got a major crush on Elliot!"

"Oh, God, no!" Alex replied, as she began to laugh.

Elliot just shook his head dismally as he gazed at Casey. "You know I only have eyes for you, right?"

"Yeah, but does _she_ know that?" Casey asked with an annoyed look.

Olivia was still giggling about that moment even as she and Alex settled in their room--which was the same one that Olivia had when she stayed over a few nights ago. The bed was more than large enough for the both of them. It certainly suited Alex, who presently gave the bed a test run by taking off her shoes and lying down on it.

"This is nice," Alex said, as she stared up at the ceiling. "Hey, did George Washington sleep here? This place is old enough for him to have paid a visit."

Before Olivia could reply, she let out a startled gasp as someone gently rubbed their hand on her shoulder. She quickly glanced over her shoulder--

--but no one stood there.

"What is it?" Alex asked with concern as she quickly got up off the bed. "You look like you've just seen a…well, a ghost…."

"Didn't _see _one this time, but I felt it," Olivia said.

When Olivia explained, Alex's eyes grew wide behind her glasses. "That happened just now?! I thought ghosts didn't come out until nighttime!"

Elliot appeared in the doorway, and was about to say something--until he saw the unease in both Olivia and Alex's faces. "What's wrong?"

When Olivia told him what just occurred, Elliot held up his hands. "Wait, let's get my little ghostbuster in here. Hey, Case!"

Casey quickly entered the room and Olivia reiterated the tale for her, while Alex sat by Olivia's side on the bed, holding her hand.

"Whoa," Casey said, once Olivia was done. "This place is really jumping, huh?"

"I thought ghosts only came out at night," Alex said, looking disturbed. "If that's the case, then who grabbed Olivia?!"

"It wasn't a grabbing gesture," Olivia told her. "It was more of a gentle pat on my shoulder."

Elliot nodded grimly at that. "So we're looking for a perverted ghost who works the day shift. Great."

"Ghostly phenomena can be experienced either during the day or nighttime," Casey said to all of them. "You see these ghost hunter shows where they're always walking around the haunted mansion in pitch blackness in the middle of the night? That's just to make it more scary for TV, that's all. There's no rule that says that ghosts only come out at night."

Olivia couldn't help but wonder if that gentle pat on the shoulder was some sort of reassurance from the ghost of the woman whom she had been seeing; perhaps it was a welcoming gesture on the ghost's part--or maybe it was some sort of sign that she was on the right track.

'But I don't even know what track I'm supposed to be on,' Olivia thought, as she stared at the chair against the wall. Then a realization struck her. "Hey, this was the chair I told you guys about. The one that woke me up when it started banging around."

"You said you saw someone sitting in it, right?" Casey asked, as she regarded the chair with a critical eye.

"Yeah, and they were thrashing around in it," Olivia replied. "I couldn't get a good look at who it was, or what they were doing. But, later on, I noticed some weird markings on the wood. See them?"

Elliot had bent over to examine the chair close up, and he nodded. "Yeah. There's one down here, on this support rod between the two front legs. And two more on the outer rods of the back of the chair."

Elliot then paused, as if something had just occurred to him. He picked up the chair and placed it in the middle of the floor. "Alex, you mind taking a seat?"

Alex gave him a mortified look. "You want me to sit in a haunted chair?!"

"I'll do it," Casey offered, as she sat down.

"Move your arms behind you, right here," Elliot directed her. "Good, now put your feet together tightly and just swing them back against the--yeah, that's great, Case. Liv, take a look at this and tell me what you see."

Olivia got up and walked around to the side of Casey, who uncomfortably sat with her arms behind her back and feet pulled under the chair's seat. Olivia had already figured out what Elliot was trying to show her just from the way Casey sat in the chair. But when she bent down and examined the cut marks in the wood, which corresponded exactly to the positions where Casey held her wrists and ankles--that just solidified it for her.

"These are ligature marks in the wood," Olivia said softly. "Somebody was tied to this chair. Jesus, now that thrashing made sense. Whoever I saw sitting in this chair, thrashing around, they were tied to it! Somebody was held prisoner in this very room."

"I'd hate to throw a wet blanket on this," Alex said, "but are you sure that's the case? I mean, this _is_ an inn, after all. And an inn, like hotels and motels, have seen their share of people enjoying kinky sex."

"You didn't see the way this person was thrashing around, Alex," Olivia said with a shake of her head. "It was sheer desperation. It wasn't--"

Olivia was interrupted by a sharp knocking sound on the door. When she opened it, Sgt. Langhorn stood in the hallway with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sergeant!" Olivia said with a smile. "Good to see you again."

"Same here, Detective Benson," he replied. "I just wish it were under better circumstances."

"What do you mean?"

"The chief wants to see you," he said. "All of you, at police headquarters, right now."

**###**

Allison looked up from the front desk with a surprised smile when Langhorn led Olivia and the others into the police station. "Liv, what're you doing back so soon?"

"Chief Anderson wants to see us," she replied as they strode past Alison. "You hear why?"

Allison just shook her head. "No idea. But we've heard back from the PSP regarding Roberson's autopsy--it's official: he died of a heart attack."

"That's what he got for running into a badass like you," Elliot told Olivia with admiration as they entered the office of the police chief.

Anderson sat behind his desk reading a folder. He continued to read it even after Langhorn had ushered them into the office and announced their presence. She saw this behavior before; it was the 'I'm-too-busy-to-even-look-at-you' attitude, which she got often from desk jockeys like Anderson. Olivia just shook her head in disgust. The more Anderson tried to puff himself up, the more of an idiot he truly showed himself to be.

"Yes, thank you, Sergeant." Anderson said with a self-important air.

He placed the folder he had been so immersed in on the desk, and Olivia nearly burst out laughing when she saw that it was completely empty.

"Something funny, Detective Benson?" he asked with a sharp tone.

"Um, no, Chief," Olivia replied, as she just barely contained her giggles. "I, uh, have allergies…."

"That's nothing compared to what _I_ have," Anderson said, as he glared at all of them. "A bunch of nosy New York cops! The Roberson case is closed!"

"We know that," Elliot told him, feigning innocence. "But Detective Benson and I liked Whitehope so much when we were here on official business that we decided to come back with our girlfriends for the weekend. That's all."

"Your girlfriends?!" Anderson said, as he stared at Olivia with disbelief.

"Yeah," Olivia said, as she glared back at him. She grabbed Alex's hand in her own. "Is there a problem?"

Anderson sat back in his chair with an uneasy look on his face. "No, of course not, Detective." He stared at Alex and Casey and added, "Would you two happen to be New York City detectives as well?"

"I'm Alexandra Cabot, and this is Casey Novak," Alex said, making the introductions. "We're with the New York City DA's office."

Anderson shook his head. "Who are you trying to fool, here, Detectives? Look, I don't know what you're all up to, but you have absolutely no jurisdiction here!"

"You're right," Casey spoke up. "We have no jurisdiction in Whitehope. But it's exactly as we've stated: we're just spending the weekend as private citizens. May I ask a question? Why did you have us brought in here?"

"The Roberson case is closed," Anderson shot back. "There's no reason for any of you to be here!"

"Are you asking us to leave?" Alex asked him, point blank.

Anderson hesitated--and Olivia knew why. They may be out of their jurisdiction here, but Alex and Casey were still lawyers who knew the law inside and out.

"No," Anderson finally replied with a sigh. "Of course not. I just wanted to be clear on the fact that the Roberson case was closed, that's all."

"I think you called us in here in an attempt to bully us into backing off on our own investigation," Elliot said. "But, Chief, you know full well that if the NYPD _were_ pursuing its own investigation in your backyard, we would have been required to call you, first, and alert you to what we were doing."

Anderson glared at them suspiciously. "So you're saying that you're really just here for relaxation?"

"That's what we've been saying all along," Alex curtly told him. "And if there's nothing further, Chief, we'd like to get back to our vacation."

"Very well," Anderson said. "As long as we understand each other. Have yourselves a pleasant stay here in Whitehope."

"We will, assuming we don't get called back in here for no good reason again," Alex murmured, as they began to walk out the door.

Olivia paused in the doorway. "Chief, one more thing. You said the Roberson case is now closed."

"It is," he insisted.

Olivia nodded. "Yes, but what about the breakout? Was it ever officially determined how Roberson broke out of his jail cell?"

"He had a spare key to the lock of his cell," Anderson muttered, as he resumed reading his empty folder.

"He had a spare key?" Olivia said skeptically. "Did he steal it?"

"That's what we assume. The PSP found it in the house where he kept the women captive," Anderson said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Good day, Detective Benson."

"Good day, Chief." Olivia just shook her head as she left the man's office. When she rejoined the others in the lobby of the police station, Olivia told them what Anderson told her.

"What? Roberson palmed a key?" Elliot said with a frown. "These guys should check their prisoners better before locking them up."

But there was something about the whole thing that was just too neat--too pat--for Olivia. 'Yet there's not much more I could do right now, so I might as well go….'

Olivia's musings came to a halt when she saw something on the bulletin board. It was part of a picture--covered by other papers that were tacked over it--that stared out at her. When Olivia moved the other papers away, and got a good look at the face in the picture, a chill swept up her spine.

Alex, Elliot and Casey appeared at her side, and they gazed at her with concern. "You all right, Liv?" Alex asked.

Olivia tore the picture from its tack on the bulletin board. It was a missing person alert. She was so frightened just at the sight of that familiar face, Olivia almost felt numb--and yet, a part of her was also filled with relief.

She held up the picture of the woman in the missing person alert, and Alex let out a sharp gasp of horror.

"Oh my God," Alex said with shock. "It's her!"

"What?" Elliot asked. "Who's that?"

"It's the ghost, Elliot," Olivia told him in a calm voice. "It's the dead woman who's been haunting me these past few days."

"Charlene Rayas," Casey read from the missing persons sheet.

Olivia nodded as she stared at the dead woman's picture with determination. "Now that we know who she finally is, let's see if we can't give her some peace."

**To Be Continued....**


	6. Chapter 6

**Law & Order: SVU: Haunted**

**Chapter Six**

"You sure it's her?" Elliot asked. "You absolutely sure, Liv?"

"Yes, I'm positive," Olivia replied firmly, as she gazed at the missing persons photo of Charlene Rayas. "This is her, El. This is the ghost."

"I recognize her as well from our apartment last night," Alex added.

"So what do we do now?" Casey asked. "Go back to our favorite person in the world, Chief Anderson, and ask him about this case? And what do we tell him the reason is for our interest? That the dead victim has been haunting us?"

"No, we can surely finesse some kind of--" Olivia started to say, until she saw Chief Anderson standing there, glaring at them.

"Detective Benson, why have you removed that missing persons picture from the bulletin board?" Anderson wanted to know.

'Shit, we're caught!' Olivia thought, as she frantically sought to come up with a cover story. "We thought we saw this woman in New York City a while back...."

"And we were just wondering if you could give us some information on her case," Elliot added, falling right in line with Olivia's story.

Anderson glared at them with suspicion. "I thought you said you were here on vacation...."

Olivia shook her head with disgust. Anderson was truly a small-minded tyrant who didn't like anybody else playing in his little sandbox--no matter how helpful they might prove to be. "We were," she told him. "But once I recognized this woman, we thought it might be best to check with you about her case."

"That woman's been missing for over ten years," Anderson said skeptically, "and you say you saw her In New York City?"

Olivia exchanged a weary look with Elliot, Apparently Anderson was even dumber than he looked. "Yes, Chief. We thought we saw her in New York. Would you mind letting us taking a look at the case file?"

Anderson stared at them for a moment, then he curtly gestured at Allison at the counter. "She's the clerk; she'll show you the file. I've got better things to do."

For her part, Allison had shot the Chief an annoyed look as he stalked away from them. Apparently, she didn't like being referred to as being just a clerk--and Olivia certainly didn't blame her. Allison was a fully trained police officer.

As they walked up to Allison at the counter, Elliot--who gestured at the departing Anderson--asked, "Is he always that cheerful?"

"Oh, don't get me started," Allison said with an angry growl. "What's the name of the missing person?"

"Charlene Rayas," Olivia told her.

Allison set them up with the Rayas file in an unused interrogation room. Olivia, Elliot, Alex and Casey sat around the table, looking over the files with Allison acting as a guide.

"Did you know her?" Olivia asked.

Allison quickly shook her head. "Her disappearance was before my time. I was just a kid when it happened."

"We weren't asking if you had an alibi," Alex said with a smile.

Allison grinned good-naturedly as she held up her hands. "I'm innocent, I swear!"

Despite the fact that Olivia glanced through the file, she couldn't help but laugh gently at Allison's joke. Then her smile faded when she saw something. "Charlene's parents still live here, in Whitehope."

When Olivia wrote down their address in her notebook, Allison asked, "So whereabouts in New York did you see Charlene, Liv?"

Olivia glanced awkwardly at the young woman; she felt bad enough at having to lie to her just to see this file, but now she felt even worse at now having to maintain this charade.

She gave Elliot a questioning look, and he just said, "If you want to, that's fine by me," he replied. "It's really up to you, Liv."

"What?!" Alex asked, as she glanced back and forth in-between them in exasperation. "You know, I hate it when you two do that! It creeps me out!"

"I know," Casey agreed. "It's like watching the power twins speak to each other with ESP."

"I think it's awesome," Allison said with an amazed look. "It's like you're reading each other's minds, there."

"That's what happens when you've been partners with somebody for ten years now," Elliot told Allison, as he gave Olivia's arm a gentle squeeze. "You can anticipate each other's thoughts."

"Allison," Olivia said, as she took a deep breath. "Um, there's something I need to tell you."

Olivia told her the whole story just then. And Allison listened to it, wide-eyed. When she was done, Olivia added, "I don't blame you for thinking us to be all crazy. But the fact remains that Alex and I _have_ seen this ghost, and she--Charlene--is suffering from a great deal of unrest. So we're treating this just like any other case, Ally. We're just trying to get to the bottom of it, to see if we can give Charlene, and her family, some closure. And I would love it very much if you could help us."

"Wow!" Allison said, stunned. "I must say, I've never encountered a ghostly situation like this before!"

"You're young," Elliot told her. "Give it a few years, and you'll soon have your own creepy cop story, too."

"I don't know," Allison anxiously replied. If dealing with ghosts is a part of being a cop, then I think I might get a job at the post office."

"But then you might wind up delivering mail to a haunted house," Casey told her, grinning.

"If you'd rather not be involved from this point on," Olivia said. "We'd understand."

"No, I'll help you," Allison said eagerly. "My shift ends in half an hour, anyway. If you want, I could take you guys over to the Rayas house."

Olivia nodded as she smiled gratefully at her. "That would be great. Thanks so much, Ally."

"Think nothing of it," Allison said with a grin. "Part of the reason I joined the police was to solve mysteries, and here's a great big fat one right here in town."

"Welcome to the Scooby gang," Alex told her.

Allison gave her a puzzled look. "The what?"

"It's a cartoon," Casey said. "Scooby Doo? They solves spooky mysteries? Have you seen it?"

Allison gave her a helpless shrug. "Sorry. Never heard of it."

Elliot leaned over and whispered into Olivia's ear: "I like this kid. But she's really making me feel old...."

###

According to the police file, Charlene Rayas vanished while driving home from work late one evening. Her job, which was at a local shop in the area, reported that she had left work ok--but her parents had tried to report her missing when Charlene still didn't show up the following morning. Unfortunately, they had to wait another twelve hours before they could file an official report. Once they got going, local and state police launched a massive search on all roads in and around Whitehope--but there was no sign of Charlene, or of her car. Hospitals were also checked, and even the local funeral home, which was charged with picking up bodies from accidents. But Charlene, along with her car, had both vanished without a trace.

Charlene's parents lived a few blocks from the police station, and as Elliot drove there--with Ally showing him the way--Olivia sat and mused as to what could have happened to Charlene. The Chief of police back then thought Charlene had run away--and quite frankly, Olivia really couldn't blame the guy for coming to that conclusion. She would have thought the same thing in those circumstances. However, the presence of Charlene's very angry and agitated ghost proved that something dreadful did happen to her--and whatever it was, it occurred right here in Whitehope.

Or did it?

Olivia turned to Casey in the backseat and asked, "Hey, do ghost only haunt the place where they've died? In other words, if we've seen Charlene around here, then can we assume that she died here?"

"Good question," Casey said. She sat in the center of the rear seat, with Alex and Ally on her sides. "The general theory is that ghosts haunt the place that they died. But they can also travel with something, or someone, that they've formed a connection with."

"Like how we saw Charlene in our apartment last night?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, except in this case, Charlene was trying to tell you something, which would explain why she traveled with you to your home. She's still at unrest."

Ally pointed at something ahead of them in the street, "Take the first right here, Elliot."

"You got it," Elliot replied, as he pulled into the turn she had indicated.

"Charlene's parents should be right down this street," Ally told him. "Second to last house here."

As they stopped in front of the house, Olivia stared worriedly at the young woman. "Thanks so much for the help, Ally. We really appreciate it. But I just hope we won't be getting you into any trouble with Anderson."

"Don't worry about that," Allison assured her. "I'm off duty now. And what I do on my own time is my own business, anyway."

"I take it that you're not going to tell Charlene's parents that we've been seeing her ghost?" Alex asked Olivia.

"No," Olivia quickly said. "I won't mention a word about the haunting. Besides, it would be in poor taste to say so, since that would mean that Charlene is dead--and I don't want to say anything about her fate until we all know for sure what happened to her."

"Good idea," Elliot said with a nod as he got out of the car.

Ally went with Olivia and Elliot, so she could introduce them to Charlene's family, while Alex and Casey waited by the car. Charlene's parents were kind, gentle folk who had the weariness of people without a sense of closure in their lives. All around them were photos of Charlene as she was in life: young, vital, and very outgoing. Neither her mother nor father could offer Olivia anything new. In fact, they were hoping that Olivia and Elliot might have some news for them. But Olivia just sadly shook her head in response.

"I'm very sorry if we got your hopes up," she told them.

"I'm just grateful that a pair of real cops are finally working the case," Charlene's father said. "Everybody in the Whitehope Police just assumed that Charlene had run off to New York, or headed out west someplace. But she would never do that; she would never just up and leave."

"At least not without telling us," Charlene's mother added.

Olivia had asked if she could see Charlene's bedroom, and when she did, neither Olivia or Elliot could find anything that could help them. Olivia gazed with interest at a poster of a heavy metal band on one wall of the room. The members of the band all struck macho poses--as befitting for members of a group like theirs--with a tag line underneath them that read: "Masters Of Destruction!"

Olivia frowned slightly. Something at the back of her brain was bugging her, but she didn't know what.

After looking around fruitlessly for a while, Elliot said, "This is Charlene's home. Has she appeared to you since we've been here?"

Olivia glumly shook her head. She glanced out the open doorway, making sure they were alone. Ally was with the parents--Olivia could hear them chatting down the hall. "No, I haven't seen her at all. Which speaks volumes."

"What do you mean?"

"This may have been Charlene's home, but it's a dead end as far as our investigation is concerned," Olivia told him. "If Casey's theory about a ghost haunting the place where it died is correct, then Charlene didn't die here."

Elliot's eyes grew wide when something occurred to him. "Wait! Where did you first see Charlene as a ghost, other than the dream you had in the car?"

"At the inn!" Olivia said with a gasp. "Of course! Elliot, I also saw somebody, a ghostly figure, tied to a chair!"

"The very same chair which has ligature marks all over it," Elliot said with a nod. "Could your room be where Charlene was held captive before she was killed?"

Olivia stared at him in shock. "Oh dear God, could it be that simple?"

"C'mon," Elliot told her. "Let's find out."

After they bid Charlene's parents farewell, Elliot, Olivia and the others drove back to the inn. Ally went back with them, and Peggy, the innkeeper, gave the group a puzzled look as they all ran past her at the front desk and raced upstairs.

They all breathlessly entered Olivia and Alex's bedroom, where they stared at the empty chair, almost as if they dared it to do something.

But the chair remained still.

After a few minutes of nothing, Olivia sat on the edge of the bed and wearily shook her head. "Should we get a priest, or a voodoo doctor, or something? Because I'm fresh out of ideas on how to get this thing to start performing."

Casey shook her head. "You can't just make a ghost appear like it was a trained dog, Liv. They always--"

Casey stopped talking as she, Elliot, Alex and Ally all stared in wide-eyed terror at something directly behind Olivia.

When Olivia felt a sudden weight on the mattress right in back of her, she quickly got to her feet and saw that the mattress was heaving and shaking violently. Then she saw why. There was the ghostly figure of a woman who lay face down on the mattress. Clad only in her underwear, the woman lay thrashing with her wrists bound behind her back and ankles trussed together. She had a gag in her mouth.

Olivia and the others watched in horror as the bound woman was suddenly lifted into the air and carried over to the chair by and unseen force. Once she was placed down in a sitting position, the struggling woman was further trussed to the chair by bonds that magically appeared. Olivia watched, sick to her stomach, as the poor woman writhed and flailed against her bonds, but it was to no use. And when Olivia got a good look at the woman's face, she received a startling revelation.

It wasn't Charlene Rayas.

The bound woman who struggled before them in the chair was a completely different victim. Olivia, both horrified and touched by the woman's plight, went over and reached out with her hand. "Hey," she said in her best soothing tone. "It's all right....."

But the tied woman kept right on struggling, like a wild animal caught in a trap--she acted as if she never even noticed Olivia and the others.

Casey came over and gently pulled Olivia back. "Remember what I said in the car? About the difference between a ghost and a residual?"

Olivia nodded in understanding. "So this poor soul is a residual."

"Right," Casey said. "She'll just continue to reenact this horrible scene, over and over...the poor thing."

The ghostly image faded, as if the bulb within a projector blew out, and the chair remained still once more.

Olivia exchanged a stunned look with everyone--then she firmly said, "You know what this means?"

"The Longmont Inn is the scene of a crime?" Alex asked. She looked very frightened.

"Yeah," Olivia said with a nod. "And that whatever to Charlene--whoever killed her, she wasn't his only victim."

"There's something else," Casey said anxiously. "We watched that woman being carried over and placed in the chair, which she was tied to--and yet we never saw her captor."

"Yeah," Elliot said uneasily. "He was invisible. It was creepy...as if watching that scene wasn't creepy enough!"

"That's because, in scenes with a residual ghost, the living are never seen," Casey told them. "Whoever kidnapped this woman is most likely still alive."

Olivia's eyes grew wide at that. "But Roberson's dead, which means--"

"It wasn't Roberson who killed this poor soul," Ally said, as she stared with sadness at the empty chair. "And he probably didn't kill Charlene."

"Unless the killer was a master of disguise who could make himself invisible," Alex interjected.

"Master!" Olivia suddenly blurted out. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Elliot asked.

"When I confronted him, Roberson was babbling about the Master," Olivia told the group. "I didn't think much of it at the time, because he was acting crazy. But what if he was referring to a real person? A partner whom he worked with in these crimes? A partner who is still alive?"

Elliot nodded his head slowly. "A partner who helped him escape from his jail cell."

"Exactly!" Olivia said.

"But that would mean that Roberson's partner was at the police station," Allison spoke up. "Which would be a pretty gutsy move for somebody like that."

"Serial killers are known to have done some pretty ballsy things, Ally," Olivia said. "Believe me!"

Elliot grew very thoughtful. "Liv, remember the guy we encountered in the police station? The drunk who asked us if we could take him back with us to New York?"

"Yeah, Roy Dunhill," Olivia said with a nod. "But wasn't he handcuffed to the seat? That rules him out as a suspect...."

"He had been wandering all over the station, annoying everybody," Allison told them. "Which was why he was cuffed to the seat. He hadn't been processed yet. Roy's sort of the official town drunk. But other than get into the occasional bar fight, he's harmless."

"Most serial killers look harmless on the surface," Casey said.

"Yeah," Alex agreed. "That's how they get close to their victims, by putting up a harmless facade."

"Dunhill looks good for this to me," Elliot told Olivia. "Wanna check him out?"

Olivia nodded. "I also want to check with Rae and Lisa. I'd like to see if they remember Roberson saying anything about having a partner."

Elliot shrugged. "Then what are we all waiting for? We've got some new leads, let's chase them down."

As Olivia walked out of the room, she cast a final look at the empty chair. "This is for you," she whispered to the unknown victim. "Rest assured that you and Charlene will not have died in vain, sweetie--not while we have something to say about it!"

Alex glanced back at her with a frown. "You say something?"

"Just making a promise to somebody," Olivia said, as she closed the door to the room behind her.

**To Be Continued....**


	7. Chapter 7

_I'd like to thank Barbarossa Rotbart for her kind words of encouragement. I'd also like to thank those of you who placed this story on your alert/favs. _

**Law & Order: SVU: Haunted**

**Chapter Seven**

It was decided between them that things would go faster if they spilt up the work. And so Elliot and Casey would stay in town and check out Roy Dunhill with Ally while Olivia and Alex traveled to the hospital to pay a visit on Rae and Lisa, the women whom Olivia (with help from Charlene) had rescued from the clutches of Roberson.

Yet when Olivia and Alex arrived at the main desk in the lobby of the hospital, they found Lieutenant Kendall standing there, speaking to one of the nurses. Olivia had been hoping to visit Rae and Lisa on the sly, with as little official involvement as possible, but that plan got shot to hell once Kendall saw her. He came over and gave Olivia a warm hug--much to her surprise, as well as that of Alex, who gazed at him with disapproval.

"Fancy meeting you here, again, Detective Benson," Kendall said. When he gave Alex a curious look, Olivia introduced them. Then he said, "You came back out here with an ADA from New York City, Olivia? Is something wrong?"

"No," Olivia said quickly. "Alex and I are out here off the clock, just taking the weekend off to enjoy this lovely area. And I realized that, since we _were_ here, we might as well check in and see how Rae and Lisa are doing."

"They're doing well. In fact, they're doing _so_ well that they've been allowed to go home." Kendall gave Olivia and Alex a bemused look. "So, you two are just close friends out on vacation? If you're looking for some fun, and a bit of male company, I know of a few good nightclubs in the area."

"Thanks," Alex cut in, before Olivia could reply. She grabbed Olivia's hand in her own and curtly added, "But we're together, and _not_ looking for male companionship."

There was an awkward silence as Kendall stared at the two of them with renewed puzzlement on his face. And Olivia, who was inwardly delighted at how protective Alex was of her, mentally shifted gears. Not able to see Rae and Lisa at the hospital--and not having any desire to disturb the girls with questions at their homes--Olivia decided to try a different approach. "As long as I've got you, Lieutenant, I was wondering if I could ask you something about the Roberson case that's been bothering me."

"Sure," he said amiably. "Shoot."

"Roberson mentioned something to me about a Master--about how the master was coming," Olivia said. "Have you heard anything more about that from the girls?"

Kendall shook his head. "No. I interviewed the both of them myself, and Rae never heard him say anything about that. And the only time that Lisa heard him mention the master was when he said it to you."

"I was just concerned that Roberson might have had a partner," Olivia said.

He nodded. "Yeah, so were we. But we checked Roberson's background out completely, and the evidence showed that, whenever he killed, he worked alone. Bear in mind, Olivia, that when his body was autopsied, Roberson was found to be high on meth, along with pot. So he wasn't thinking very clearly when you confronted him."

Although Olivia wasn't satisfied that Roberson had been just babbling about the master simply because he was high, she decided to leave sleeping dogs lie for the moment. Besides, Alex had started squeezing her hand so tightly that Olivia was starting to lose feeling in it. After they bid Kendall goodbye and walked back into the parking lot, Olivia pulled her hand out of Alex's vise-like grip. "Whew, you really had a death-grip on me, sweetie!"

"Sorry," Alex replied. "But did you see the way that little shit kept staring at you? How he kept mentally undressing you? That bastard! I figured I'd better grab your hand to prevent myself from punching his damn lights out."

"Alex," Olivia said, smiling, as they got in the car, "are you jealous?"

"I'm just watching out for my girlfriend, that's all," Alex replied. She reached down and gave Olivia a little kiss on the back of her hand. "So what's the plan, now?"

"We go back to the hotel and see what Elliot and the others have dug up," Olivia said.

Alex gave her a frightened look. "Are we really sleeping in that room tonight? With that haunted chair?"

"Tell you what, babe," Olivia told her, as she gently caressed the side of Alex's face. "Why don't we see if Peggy can give us another room?"

"That's the best news I've heard all day," Alex said with relief.

**###**

When they returned to the inn, they found Elliot and Casey were already in the dining room, having dinner. They had saved a pair of seats at their table for Olivia and Alex. Casey explained that Ally had went home. Elliot told Olivia that Roy Dunhill was pretty much a dead end. He was drunk when they found him at the bar, and could barely recall what his name was--much less answer Elliot's questions about the case.

"Ally was right," Elliot reported with a shake of his head, "he's really nothing more than the town drunk. He's harmless--at least to other people. God only knows what shape his liver's in, thanks to his drinking."

As she and Alex ate, Olivia told Elliot and Casey that their visit to the hospital had also been a bust, as well. "The PSP checked into Roberson's background, and they're satisfied that he didn't work with a partner."

Elliot just stared at Olivia with a slight smile. "But _you're_ not satisfied, right?"

"Serial killers working together is not unheard of," Casey told him.

Olivia nodded. "That's right. And what we saw proves that, whoever killed the woman in our room, he's still alive. And that rules out Roberson, who's deader than a doornail. So Roberson definitely had a partner."

"Wonder if Roberson's haunting anybody right now?" Elliot mused, as he thoughtfully broke a breadstick into two pieces.

"These ghostly occurrences we've seen are enough to convince _me_ that Roberson had a partner," Alex spoke up. "But we can't use the testimony of a ghost in court."

"I know," Olivia muttered, as she wearily rubbed the side of her neck. "It seems like no matter what we do, this case just doesn't want to be solved."

"Here, let me," Alex offered. She got up and stood behind Olivia, who was still seated. Olivia let out a sigh of relief as Alex deftly massaged the tension from her neck and shoulders.

"We should really call it a night," Casey announced. She also looked tired. "Start fresh in the morning."

"But we'll be leaving tomorrow," Olivia said, annoyed. "How much can we do then?"

"There's not much we can do tonight, anyway, Liv," Elliot told her. "But, after getting a good night's sleep, we may be able to tackle this from a fresh angle. Besides, it's getting late, and you know how everything in these small towns shut down early."

Olivia had to admit that Elliot had a point. They were at a dead end, anyway. Maybe they'll get a new lead in the morning--and if not, then she and Alex may well have to deal with a cranky ghost haunting them for the rest of their days. 'Hope Charlene's a light sleeper,' Olivia thought with dread. 'Or else Alex and I will have to set up some ground rules with our new ghostly roommate.'

Then something occurred to Olivia. "Wait, we've got another lead, Elliot--right here. One of the victims was held captive in our very bedroom."

"Yeah, about that," Alex anxiously said, "I thought you said we'd get another room, remember? Either that, or I'm gonna be sitting up all night, staring at that haunted chair from hell!"

"We'll stop off and see Peggy about that right now, ok?" Olivia promised her. "And I can use the moment to ask her what she knows about anything haunting in our room." When she noticed how tired both Elliot and Casey looked, Olivia added, "You two go ahead and hit the sack, I've got this covered."

"In that case, I got this," Elliot told her, when the waitress delivered their check.

Olivia nodded as she put her wallet away. "Thanks, El."

"Don't thank me," Elliot said with a grin. "You're the one who's going to talk to Ms. 'I-see-dead-people' about a ghost in your room. And that chatterbox will chew your ear off before you know it! So the least I can do is take the check."

"Gee, isn't he wonderful?" Casey jokingly as she and Elliot left. "We'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Goodnight," Olivia said, as she and Alex got up from the table.

Peggy greeted them with a smile when Olivia and Alex approached the main desk. "I was just about to turn in," Peggy said. "Anything I can do for you before I do so?"

"Actually, there is," Olivia said. And she inwardly braced herself for the onslaught of words to come from Peggy. "Um, do you know of a haunting in our room?"

Peggy's smiled faded slightly. "No, not that I know of. Have you seen something?"

That cool response caught Olivia off guard. She quickly decided to play her cards close to her chest. "Just a rattling chair," Olivia replied. "Makes it hard for us to sleep."

Now Peggy looked concerned. "The chair rattles? By itself?"

Olivia nodded. She had decided to leave the description vague by leaving out the exact image of what they saw. "Like it's in an earthquake. Have you heard of this happening before?"

Peggy stared at them for a awkward moment. "I trust you would like another room? That would be very easy to arrange."

'Holy shit,' Olivia thought, as she stared at Peggy with renewed suspicion. 'She just dodged my question!'

"Yes, that would be great," Alex responded. Then, as if also sensing Peggy's unease, Alex pressed the issue. "Have you heard any stories about ghosts in our bedroom?"

"No, I haven't," Peggy replied coldly. She appeared to be deeply insulted. "Your room is one of the more quiet spots in the inn. I can't explain it. Your key, please?"

"Well, we have to move our stuff out, first," Alex explained.

Peggy abruptly turned and took another key from the wall directly behind her. She held it out to Olivia. "You're a police officer, so I suppose I can trust you. You can turn in the key to your old room, along with your new one, tomorrow."

Olivia glanced at the new key that Peggy had given her, and saw that it was the room next to their old one. Trying to lighten Peggy's mood, she asked, "You sure this new room doesn't have any ghosts?"

"Sometimes we find that we're still haunted, detective," Peggy said with a weary sigh. "No matter what we do."

Peggy then abruptly turned her back on them and left through a door behind the counter.

"Jesus Christ, what the fuck?" Olivia whispered to Alex. "She's acting like the housekeeper in The Haunting!"

As they began to go upstairs, Alex just shook her head. "Maybe she's having a bad night."

"But she's such an expert in this, Alex. She's normally so enthusiastic about ghosts," Olivia said. "To give us the brush off like that is just weird!"

"Maybe she's pissed because we found a ghost here that she knows nothing about," Alex suggested. They were now in the hallway, just outside of their soon to be former bedroom.

Before Olivia could reply, her cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and was surprised to see that it was Ally. "Hello, Ally?" Olivia said, when she placed the phone to her ear. "Is something wrong?"

"I've discovered something," Allison said on the other end. Her normally enthusiastic voice now sounded oddly flat and devoid of emotion. "I need you to come and see it, now."

"What did you discover?"

"I-I can't talk about it over the phone," Allison said, her voice now sounding on the verge of breaking. "Just come to my house, right now, please. And hurry!"

After Allison quickly gave Olivia directions to her home, the call was cut off. As Olivia stared at her phone in shock, Alex said, "What is it?"

Olivia explained the situation, then she added, "She sounded like she was in trouble, Alex."

When Olivia tried to call Ally back, there was no answer--which only increased her concern for the young woman. "Whoa, something's really wrong, here, Alex. I've gotta go."

"You're not actually thinking of going over there alone, are you?" Alex said with a frown.

"I've got my gun," Olivia assured her.

"Oh no--to hell with that!" Alex said with a shake of her head. "It sounds like a trap!"

"You seriously think Ally is setting a trap for me?!"

"No, but Allison may well have been captured by the guy--Roberson's partner--who we've been trying to track down," Alex told her. "And Roberson's partner may be using her as bait to get you to come over there so he can take you hostage."

Olivia grew uneasily quiet as she considered what Alex had just said. "Yeah, the thought had crossed my mind...."

"We've had too many dealings with serial killers in the SVU to let our guard down now." Alex glanced under the door to Elliot and Casey's bedroom and noted that the light was out. "I'd say bring Elliot with you. But it looks like he's already asleep."

"Not anymore," Olivia muttered. She pounded on the door and shouted, "HEY STABLER, WAKE UP!"

There was a muffled tumbling sound that came from behind the door, as Olivia heard both Elliot and Casey rapidly whispering at each other over the sound of padded footsteps. When the door opened, Elliot stood there bleary-eyed, clad only in pajama bottoms. Being the good cop that he was, Elliot cautiously held his Glock in one hand. Casey stood timidly behind him, clad only in an over-sized pajama shirt with a pattern of little cows all over it.

Olivia wasted no time; she quickly explained the situation to Elliot, who slowly woke up to his usual full alertness as he listened. "Sweet Jesus," he said when she was finished. "At first, I thought it was the ghost banging on the door--now, I wish it _had_ been...."

"What are you going to do?" Casey asked.

"Go out there with Liv," Elliot said, as he stepped back inside the room. "What else?"

Casey nodded. "Very well. I'll go with you."

Elliot shook his head. "You're not a cop, Case."

"Neither are you and Olivia," she told him. "I mean, officially, in Whitehope, you're not cops, either."

"We're not in a courtroom, either, so don't act like a lawyer with me," Elliot growled. "You're staying here!"

"But she has a point, Elliot," Alex chimed in. "I mean, we should really be calling the local police in on this."

"If it turns out to be that Ally's a captive of Roberson's partner, you really think the local cops can handle that situation?" Elliot asked.

"No," Olivia firmly replied. Concerned as she was for Allison, she was impatient to get moving. "Which is why we'll go and check it out, and if things get hairy, then we'll call in the PSP. They can handle a hostage situation far better than the locals."

"I'm still going," Casey stubbornly said. Standing as she was with her arms crossed in her cow print pajama top--which fit her like a dress--it was a bit hard for Olivia not to smile at the amusing sight that Casey presented.

"If Casey's going, then I'm going, too," Alex told Olivia.

Olivia and Elliot exchanged a weary look. They both knew the futility of arguing with their girlfriends--especially when their minds were set on a course of action as they were now.

"Looks like the Scooby gang is riding into action, El," Olivia said, as she and Alex left the room. "We'll be waiting outside for you guys."

"We won't be five minutes, Velma," Elliot called, just as he closed the door.

"Oh, I am _so_ getting him back for that!" Olivia angrily swore to Alex.

**###**

Ally's house was just a block away from the police station, which heartened Olivia, since help would not be that far away if they needed it. As she and Elliot got out of the car with their guns drawn, Olivia hoped that they were just being paranoid--that Allison had simply discovered a new piece of evidence that was too hot to wait for tomorrow. Alex and Casey waited back by the car, with their cell phones on and at the ready, just in case they needed to call in reinforcements.

Yet as they approached the house, Olivia's sense of dread increased when she saw the front door was open, almost as if it were in invitation. But an invitation to what? What would they encounter on the inside?

"Should we split up?" Olivia whispered to Elliot. "You watch my back from the shadows?"

"Good idea," Elliot whispered back. He then darted across the lawn, sticking to the cover behind a row of trees.

As Olivia approached the house, Elliot advanced on his end, still hidden behind the foliage.

Olivia stepped onto the porch. She grimaced as the floorboards creaked under her feet. She cautiously strode up to the open doorway with her Glock held out in front of her. "Ally?" she called. "You home?"

When there was no answer, the sense of dread that had Olivia in its grip only increased. She peered inside and saw the lights were out, save for a solitary lamp that was on in the living room. After she warily checked her corners for any unpleasant surprises--and found none--Olivia stepped into the house with her gun held out. "Ally!" she called again. "Where are you?"

When she heard a muffled sound from further inside the living room, Olivia carefully rounded the corner, and the sight that greeted her made her eyes grow wide with terror.

Allison sat bound and gagged to a chair, clad only in her underwear. The scene was almost an exact recreation of what they saw acted out in their bedroom at the inn. She helplessly stared at Olivia with tear-filled eyes as a gun was pressed to her forehead. The person who held the gun was a bulky man, dressed in black, who glared hatefully at Olivia.

"Put your gun on the floor," Chief Anderson ordered, "or else I'll kill this bitch."

Olivia saw out of the corner of her eye that Elliot had just quietly entered the house right behind her--out of sight from Anderson, because he was still behind the corner. He was moving slowly in order not to make a sound. Olivia realized that she had to buy him some time.

"Hello Anderson," she said calmly, "or should I call you Master?"

Anderson flashed a grin at her. He was now a completely different man than the uptight bureaucrat whom Olivia had dealt with at the police station. He was now filled with a supreme confidence that was sickening to see; as if having a woman trussed up and helpless before him was what it took to boost his ego. 'Just when I thought I couldn't hate this little prick anymore than I already did,' she thought with disgust.

"Put down your gun," Anderson ordered her. "Or else--"

"Or else what?!" Olivia said sharply, as she kept the Glock aimed right at him. "Face it, Anderson--it's over."

"No, only I decide when it's over!" he snarled at her. "You fucking bitch! Sniffing around my town like you own it. Who the fuck do you think you think you are?!"

"A police officer who's just doing her duty," Olivia replied. She tried to keep her voice as calm as possible--which was hard for her to do, thanks to the sight of the tied up Ally. "That must have rattled you pretty good, huh?"

"Are you kidding? You're just another dumb fucking bitch who doesn't know her place!"

When Olivia furtively saw Elliot move into position by the wall next to her, she smiled slightly. "And I suppose you're gonna teach me my place, huh?"

"You had better drop THAT FUCKING GUN!" Anderson warned. "Or else I'll kill _this_ stupid little bitch!"

When the tied Ally let out a cry of terror from underneath her gag, Olivia used that as her cue. She lowered her gun and said, "All right! All right! Just don't hurt her, ok?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia saw Elliot was coiled up with his gun at the ready--it was now or never.

"For the last time, you fucking bitch, I'm the one who gives the orders!" an enraged Anderson screamed, as he came over to Olivia. "Put the gun down on the floor and cuff yourself, or else I'll--"

Elliot burst out from behind the corner and stuck his Glock right into Anderson's face. "Drop it, Anderson--now!"

Anderson stood frozen in place as he stared at Elliot, stunned. He had stupidly lowered his weapon when he approached Olivia. Then Olivia raised her gun back up and the "master" now found himself staring down the barrels of two Glocks. "Drop your fucking gun, Anderson!"

Ally started screaming hysterically under her gag, and Olivia had assumed the poor thing had simply lost it--until she glanced at Ally and noticed that the gagged woman was frantically trying to nod at something with her head. Olivia chanced a look in that direction, and saw the kitchen door slowly opening.

Olivia was startled to see Langford abruptly emerge from the kitchen with his gun drawn right at them.

"Langford," she started to warn him. "Watch it! He's still--"

Anderson turned towards Langford and cried, "Master, I'm sorry!"

Langford then opened fire on all of them.

"GET DOWN!" Elliot shouted.

But Olivia, thinking only of Allison--who sat helplessly in the middle of all of this--dove at the bound woman and tackled both her and the chair to the floor. As she covered Allison with her body, Olivia heard a man let out a cry of pain--then she heard the sound of a body fall to the floor.

'Oh Christ, I hope that's not Elliot!' she anxiously thought.

Langford let out a curse as he ran back through the kitchen doorway once more. Olivia wasn't sure, but from the way he clutched his side, it looked as if Langford had been shot.

"You all right?" Olivia asked Allison, as she removed her gag.

"Yeah," Allison replied.

"Elliot?" Olivia called. "You hit?"

"Nah," Elliot said, as he got to his feet. He gazed grimly at the floor. "But Anderson has certainly been hit. He's dead. What the hell happened?"

"Both Anderson and Langford showed up here earlier, saying that something bad had happened to you," Ally told them, as Olivia and Elliot untied her from the chair. "Once I let them in, Anderson pulls a gun on me and orders me to strip--all while asking Langford if he was doing a good job. He kept calling Langford master!"

Olivia and Elliot exchanged a solemn look. "So Langford was Roberson's partner," he said.

"As was Anderson," Olivia added. "But Langford was the senior member in this twisted little trio."

"I wonder how these psychos worked that arrangement out?" Elliot asked.

"Langford told me he was a hunter all his life," Ally said, as she quickly got dressed. "He got tired of hunting animals."

"And so he started hunting humans," Olivia said with disgust. Even though it had made some kind of weird sense, the situation was still sick. When her cell phone rang, she answered it. "Hello?"

"Are you all right?" Alex frantically said on the other end. "Casey and I heard gunfire!"

"Yeah, we're fine. Come on in," Olivia told her. "You might as well call in the reinforcements, too."

"Casey already did that," Alex said. "The PSP are on their way."

Alex emerged in the doorway just as she said those last words, and as she closed her cell phone, both she and Casey regarded the body of Chief Anderson with comically horrified expressions. Olivia quickly filled them in on what went down as Elliot came out of the kitchen with his Glock drawn.

"The back door in your kitchen is wide open," Elliot informed Allison. "What's beyond your backyard?"

"The deep woods," Allison said despondently.

"Damn it," Olivia muttered, as she stepped into the kitchen to see for herself. Langford was an avid outdoorsman, and the moment he entered the woods, he was essentially free and clear. She gazed out at the blackness beyond the house and just shook her head in despair. She picked up a flashlight from the counter and shone it's bright, wide beam into the woods.

Olivia was startled to see the beam of the flashlight had revealed the sight of Charlene, who stood on the edge of Ally's property, pointing at something just beyond.

"Oh my God," Olivia said, as she ran over to the ghost. She heard Elliot call after her, and she turned and said, "Over here!"

Yet when she turned back to Charlene, Olivia saw the ghost was gone. Then she saw that Charlene had reappeared further up a pathway. She gestured for Olivia to follow her, and she did. Olivia ran down the pathway, and just as she came around a bend, Charlene was already there, urging her onward, until she pointed at something just off the trail.

Olivia was about to walk into the bushes--with both her gun and flashlight drawn--until Charlene clearly said, "Careful!"

Startled by the sound of her voice, Olivia quickly saw what Charlene meant: the foliage off the side of the trail weren't bushes--they were the tops of trees. It was at least a one hundred foot fall from where she stood on the edge of the cliff. And as Olivia shone the flashlight down, she saw a sight that made her smile.

Langford lay at the bottom, his broken body twisted in an unnatural position on the rocky surface. And, Olivia noted that there was a look of horror frozen on the man's face.

"I got him," Charlene triumphantly said from behind Olivia. "I scared him right over the edge."

Olivia glanced at the ghost, amazed at the fact that she now spoke, and smiled at her. "That you did, sweetie. Good for you."

Charlene smiled back at her. "Don't forget us. We're on the western side of the creek, in-between the fangs."

"What?" Olivia asked, when Charlene suddenly disappeared. She shined the flashlight all over the area, but the ghost was gone. "Hey, wait a minute!"

Olivia's cell phone rang, and when she answered it, a flustered Elliot said, "Where the hell are you, Liv? Are you all right?"

"Um, yeah, Elliot, I'm fine. Langford's dead. He fell over a cliff."

"Where are you?"

"I'm--" Olivia stopped herself when she realized that she had no idea where she was. "Uh, I'm in the woods...."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock!" Elliot snapped. "You trying to be funny?"

Olivia paused when she saw an eerie light in the distance. "Oh, I really hope that's you, Elliot."

"What's me?" Elliot replied on the cell. "Hey, wait, I see a light!"

Olivia waved her flashlight at the other, more distant light. "Is the light waving at you right now?"

"Yeah, I see you, Liv! Stay there, I'll be right over."

"I'm not going anywhere, El." Olivia peered over the cliff at the body of Langford and smiled broadly at his death mask of sheer horror. She really wished she could have witnessed Langford meeting up with Charlene right here. "Master, my ass...."

**###**

Several hours later, after the sun had come up, the wooded area was teeming with police officers, both troopers from the PSP, as well as from the local Whitehope constabulary. Elliot, Alex, Casey and Ally were all there with Olivia as the PSP recovered the body of Langford. Yet Olivia's attention had been more focused on the surrounding terrain, as she sought to find the area that Charlene had told her about. There was a creek nearby, she could see it from this high vantage point, but Olivia was at a loss to find the 'fangs' that Charlene had mentioned.

Casey had been also examining the surrounding area, staring intently at the ground, until Elliot asked her what she was doing.

She held up an opaque rock that she had plucked from the dirt. "Quartz. The area is covered with it," Casey said.

That caught Olivia's attention. "Oh yeah! I recall you saying that it acts as a natural conductor for paranormal activity. That explains why Charlene was able to speak to me. And why she was able to scare the bejesus out of Langford like she did."

"Good for her," Allison said with a nod.

Dressed in sweats and her police jacket, Ally looked a little haggard--but Olivia thought she was holding up very well. She was proud of this young woman. "How you doing?" she asked.

"Pretty well, all things considered,"Ally replied with a sigh.

"Say, Ally--do you know of an area, on the western side of the creek, in-between something called the fangs?"

"Sure," Ally said with a nod. "The fangs are a rock formation. The two largest rocks look just like fangs. That's just a little ways down this trail, here. Why do you ask?"

"Because that was where Charlene told me that she'd be," Olivia said softly. "That's where I believe her body is buried, along with the other victims."

When she told Lt. Kendall of the location, he wanted to know how Olivia knew that. Olivia, realizing that she couldn't very tell reveal that her source was a ghost, gave him the only answer that popped into her head. "Allison told me. She heard Anderson and Langford talking about it."

Kendall turned and nodded in approval at Allison. "Good work, deputy! Keeping your head and listening for evidence while you were a hostage must have been very hard for you."

Allison gave Olivia a shocked look. "What--?"

"Just take the compliment," Elliot whispered into Ally's ear. "You're not gonna get much of them in your career. Trust me."

When Olivia finally saw the area, along with the others and a squad of Kendall's men, she saw that it was a desolate place by the waterside, a bare patch of earth that sat between two large vertical boulders that indeed looked just like fangs. It was also very easy to see the shallow graves that had been dug--two of them. When the PSP crime scene techs dug them up, they turned out to be the badly decomposed bodies of a pair of young women.

Olivia saw that one of the bodies wore jeans and a t-shirt--the same outfit that Charlene's ghost wore. The fact that she now stared at Charlene's physical remains hit Olivia hard. Alex, sensing her pain, came over and hugged her tightly. They were flanked by Elliot, Casey and Allison.

"Hope you find peace, now, sweetie," Olivia whispered at the corpse.

As the scene continued to be slowly and carefully processed, Kendall went over to Olivia, Elliot, and the others and said, "Why don't you guys head back to the Inn? We're all over this."

"Ok, thanks, Lieutenant," Elliot said. He turned to Olivia and added, "Man, Peggy's going to freak when she hears about this! As if having an inn filled with ghosts wasn't enough for this town."

"Well, I'm headed back there with you," Kendall told them. "I figure that, since I'm the lead investigator on this, I should be the one to tell her."

"Tell her what?" Olivia asked.

"About her brother, Anderson," Kendall said with a look of surprise on his face. "You mean you didn't know?"

"That Anderson and Peggy were siblings?" Alex said with shock. "No, we didn't!"

"Peggy kept her married name," Allison explained, "even after her husband died."

Olivia thought back to something that Peggy told them last night: "Sometimes we find that we're still haunted, detective. No matter what we do."

"Oh for Christ's sake," Olivia muttered, as she shared a wide-eyed look with Elliot and the others. "You don't think _she's_ involved in this, as well, do you?"

They returned to the Inn with Kendall. Olivia had told him about her suspicions based solely on the ligature marks that they found on the chair. When they arrived, they found one of Peggy's employees manning the front desk. She informed them that Peggy was in the reading room. Peggy was seated in a high back chair, staring thoughtfully out the window. She smiled humorlessly at them as they approached her. "I already know what happened. Word travels fast in a small town like this."

"Then you know about Carl?" Kendall asked.

"Yes, I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later," she said sadly. "I even warned Carl about it; about how it would come to a bad end. But he would not listen. He was so gullible, my dear brother. He was enamored by that horrid Langford and his twisted ideas--just like the others that they recruited."

"You knew all along?!" Olivia asked her in disbelief.

"Oh yes, I caught them using one of the rooms here for what they called their 'playtime,' detective," Peggy admitted. "But I would have none of it. I told them to steer clear of this inn, and they did. They never came back."

"Of course not," Casey said with disgust. "They just kept killing innocent women in the woods all around the town."

"You could have stopped them," Olivia said, enraged. "You could have turned them in!"

"Could have, would have," Peggy replied with a shrug. "It had already been set into motion--and, besides, the women they killed were nothing more than whores, anyway. They really did us a favor."

Everyone stood and glared at her in stunned silence--until Kendall solemnly brought out a pair of handcuffs and said, "Peggy Noonan, I am placing you under arrest for being an accessory to murder. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right...."

**###**

They left late that afternoon. Ally saw them off, and gave everyone a hug goodbye. Once Olivia and the others had left, Allison would go over to the Rayas house and officially inform them of their daughter's death. Olivia didn't envy Allison that task--for she had to do it far too many times, herself--but she was grateful that Charlene's mom and dad would now finally get some closure, at least.

They rode in the car silence, weary of the day's events, and also still stunned at their brush with the supernatural.

And then, out of nowhere, Alex turned to Casey in the backseat and said, "Moo."

Casey regarded her friend and associate with a frown. "What?"

"Mooooo," Alex said, with a broad grin.

Olivia was also puzzled at this bizarre display of behavior from her lover--until she remembered the cow print pajama top that Casey wore last night. She laughed and said, "Alex is making fun of your choice of pajamas, Casey."

"She's just jealous at how good I looked in it," Casey replied with a smile.

"Quite frankly, I thought you looked cute," Olivia told her.

"Hey, hey, she's _my_ girlfriend, Benson," Elliot said solemnly. "So just back the hell off, all right?"

Olivia stared at him in shock--until she realized that Elliot was just joking. "Oh, fuck you, Stabler!"

Everybody within the car burst into laugher at that point, and the somber mood they had been in was shattered from that point on. When she and Alex returned home later and went to bed, Olivia noted that there were no further sightings of Charlene, or of any other ghosts. Apparently this unnatural case was truly over.

The following day, life had gotten back to even more normal as Olivia faced just another day at the SVU. She and Elliot sat in their squad car, working a stake out in Chinatown. They were looking for a man who was suspected in a series of rapes who had been reported to have been staying at a flea-bitten hotel on this street. Munch and Fin were hanging out in the lobby, also keeping in eye out for him.

"You sleep well last night?" Elliot asked her. "No ghostly visits?"

"None," Olivia replied with a shake of her head.

Elliot nodded. "So I guess it's really all over--except for Alex, who keeps saying 'moo' to Casey every time she sees her! It's really getting on Casey's nerves."

Olivia burst into laughter. "I know, I promise I'll talk to Alex about it later."

Fin walked over to their car and bent down by Olivia's window. "Cragen called," he said. "Transit police got our guy up in mid-town. We can head back to the barn."

"Fine by us," Olivia said. As Fin walked back to his own squad car, Olivia got out her keys to start up the car--until she halted.

There was an old Chinese lady who was lugging a cart filled with groceries up the stoop of her apartment building. She was extremely bent over, and looked to be struggling with the cart.

"Wait a minute, El," Olivia said, as she got out of the car. "I'm just gonna help her up these steps."

"Who?" Elliot asked, looking confused.

"This woman here," Olivia replied, as she walked over to the elderly woman, who managed to get the cart onto the porch. "Oh, wait, it looks like she got it! Ma'am, do you require assistance?"

The elderly Chinese woman just nodded her thanks at Olivia as she pulled the cart to the door--

--and then walked straight through it. She had effortlessly passed through the wood and glass as if it wasn't even there.

Olivia stood gaping at the sight she had just seen. Elliot came up beside her and said, "Again, what woman are you talking about?"

"Uh, um, she just walked right through the door," Olivia said sheepishly.

"_Another_ ghost, huh?" Elliot said with a sigh, as he gave Olivia an affectionate squeeze on her arm. "Ok, let's go...Velma."

As she wearily walked back to their car with Elliot, Olivia muttered, "Jinkies!"

**The End**


End file.
